


Get Out Alive

by blakelefae



Category: Creepypasta - Fandom, Homestuck
Genre: Other, how do one tag, idk how to tag, its pretty good give it a chance, let me know if you can help me tag this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-10
Updated: 2019-04-10
Packaged: 2020-01-07 15:09:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 30,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18413156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blakelefae/pseuds/blakelefae
Summary: (This story is based off of a song I heard recently called Get Out Alive by Three Days Grace. Each of the Chapter titles are Lyrics from the song. Also most of the characters in this story are Humanstuck OC Fantrolls that were created by my best friend (Blake) and I. Blake's OCs: Vatria & Willen Skygee, Xander & Jayson Vishbe, Tevris Amaria, Anetia Marvoe. My OCs: Brelyn & Simmon Markay, Wakana (Ana) & Vektan Torque, Terose (Tea-Rose) Montan )-my friend bree-as far as this story is concerned it is on permanent hiatus. if i get updates i will put them in.





	1. CHAPTER ONE: No Time for Goodbye...

 "I dunno fuckass, sounds pretty creepy to me." The dark brunette boy said as he sat on the curb outside of his high school, Skaia High. His best friend Gamzee Makara, was sitting beside him.

 "Nah Karbro it's motherfuckin' perfect. Come on man, it's all up and Halloween in a month. This will be awesome. Unless you and your girlfriend have other plans" He adds with a wink. 

 Karkat Vantas jumps up and shakes his head. "Shut the fuck up dude, it's not like that with her." Kar shoves his hands in his pocket and starts walking down the sidewalk. He hears a skating sound behind him and glances over his shoulder. His 'girlfriend' comes up on her roller blades.

 "Hey Kitkat, what'th up?" Vatria Skygee asks. Her lisp as evident as ever. The girl brushes back her long blonde hair and flashes Karkat a flirty smile.

 "Uh, not much. How are you Vatria?"

 She giggles. "I'm fine. Tho what were you and clown boy talking about that got you all fluthtered and nervouth?"

 "Nothing. He was just trying to talk me into some stupid Halloween idea. I said no."

 "What wath it?" She tilts her head to the side and looks at him curiously. He stares at her for a minute, god he loves the way she does that. It's just so cute, everything about her is cute, her hair, her smile, her lisp, those silly red/blue goggles that she always wears. He didn't realize that he was staring at her until she snaps her fingers right in front of his eyes. "Kitkat, KITKAT!"

 "Huh?" He shakes his head and looks at her. "What?"

 She smirks. "You're thtaring at me again."

 Kar blushes slightly. "Oh fuck, sorry." He looks away and starts walking again.

 "Tho?" Vatria asks skating slowly next to him.

 "So wha- Oh. Right. Gamzee's idea is to go out on Halloween and track down that legend in Alternia's woods."

 "You mean that Thlender thing?"

 He smirks "Yes, that 'Thlender' thing"

 "Oh Thut up." She blushes at him teasing her. 

 Karkat chuckles. "Sorry, I couldn't help it."

 "I know." Vat's cell phone chimes and she pulls it out. After a moment she puts it back into her pocket and sighs.

 Karkat furrows his brows "What's wrong?"

 Vatria stares at the ground for a minute then looks at Karkat. "Do you remember my brother?"

 "Will?"

 "Yeah."

 "Sure I do, he's in the army now right?"

 "He wath." 

 Kar stops and looks at her worried. "Was?"

 "He wath wounded over in Iraq and they brought him back here. He ith in an army hothpital. He lotht hith right eye from a thrapnel wound. He altho hath a thcar on hith cheek from the thame wound..... He thinkth he ith tho ugly to look at. But I thaw pictureth, and he lookth the thame jutht without-"

 "Without his eye."

 "Yeah. I want to go thee him tho bad but he won't let me. He won't let anyone thee him."

 "I'm sorry Vat"

 "Heh, don't be." She smiles at him "I wath wondering thomething though."

 "What's that?"

 "Would it be pothible to talk Kanny or Jay Jay into talking to Will? Maybe they can get him to..."

 "To let you see him?" 

 Vatria looks down and sighs. "Yeah."

 "Sure, I'll talk to them."

 Vatria smiles and hugs Karkat.  **Thank you Kitkat.** He hugs back and smiles at the nickname. She pulls back from the hug and looks at him smiling.

 "Well I should get going. I know Sollux will be catching up with me bugging to play his stupid video games."

 "Okay, don't forget to call the boyth."

 "I won't don't worry." Karkat starts heading home, waving as he walked. Karkat’s cell phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket. It was his home phone number, probably his mom. “Hello?”

 {“Karkat, Hi honey, I just wanted to let you know that your father is home from his trip.”} His mother’s sweet, cheery voice echoed in his ears. Karkat closed his eyes. Great, just great.

 He forced a smile on his face that matched the tone he was forcing as well. “Really? I can’t wait to see him.”

 {“Karkat.”} His mother’s voice had taken a slightly more serious tone. Uh oh. {“Karkat, I know you don’t really mean that.”} Karkat hangs his head sadly, realizing that he upset his mother again. {“Son, I know since you stood up for Kankri when your brother announced that he is gay that you and your father haven’t been able to talk without it becoming an arguement.”} Ha! You can say that again. Karkat shook his head trying to shut up the little annoying voice in his head. {“But please sweetie, he’s only going to be here for two days then he’s off on another business trip and you won’t have to worry about him for a while.”}

 Karkat felt himself being won over, how could he ever argue when his mom was asking something of him. “Mom, just two days?” He heard a soft sigh on the other end of the phone.

 {“Yes, just two.”}

 He groans quietly. “Alright. I’m almost halfway home, just try to keep him busy until after I get there, and we should be fine.”

 {“Now that I can do.”} He smiled as he heard the smile in her voice as well. {“I’ll see you when you get home, be careful. Love you.”}

 Karkat blushed and his smile got bigger. “I love you too mom.” He hung up and slipped the phone back into his pocket and pulled his backpack higher on his shoulder as he let out a sigh. This is going to be a long day. He started picturing the scenario that would play out when he got home. He shuddered, at least he had a little bit of time before he’d have to deal with things, after all he was only halfway home. Just then he heard two voices arguing behind him.

 “Sol please, I w-will do anythin’ that you ask, just please this once.”

 “Eridan get the fuck away from me right now.”

 Eridan scoffs. “Oh come on Sol. I’d help you if you ev-ver needed it.”

 “Oh great, the guilt trip now. Theriouthly ED, the anthwer ith no.” The second boy takes off and runs toward Karkat, who is shaking his head while walking. “Kk, I don’t know what to do about him anymore. He ith tho impothible. What am I thuppothed to do?”

 “Sollux not now please.”

 “Yeah Kar w-what should he do?”

 “Oh come the fuck on.” Karkat muttered in frustration.

 “Wha-? Eridan!” Sollux looks over his shoulder and frowns at the taller boy who just caught up with them.

 “GUYS!” Karkat stops and spins around, making Eridan almost crash into him. “Enough! You two fuckasses deal with your own problems. I’ve got enough to deal with right now. Dad’s home from his business trip, Vatria’s brother is in the hospital, and I have to talk to my brother, who we all know, is a fucking asshole. I don’t need to deal with your shit TOO!” Kar turns his back to them, shoves his hands in his pockets and marches off toward home. Leaving Sollux and Eridan to stand there staring at each other. 

 Sollux glanced at Kk and took a deep breath before looking at Eridan again. “Tho, um… What did you want me to help you with again?” 

 

~~~

 

 Karkat walks in the door to his house to hear. Talking. He rolls his eyes. “Why now?” He whispered as he slipped his shoes off and quietly took his jacket off. Kar tiptoed through the living room and slowed down when he heard the voices were coming from his dad’s study. Oh thank god, he heard his mom’s voice too.  So it was just a conversation between his parents, and not one of his father’s sermons, he didn’t think he could handle another sermon right now. Karkat continued walking quietly until he reached the hallway which at that moment he sprinted down to the second door on the left, which was his room.

 He made it inside and shut the door. Leaning on the door he dropped his backpack on the floor and looked around. His walls were littered with romcom posters, his dresser and t.v. stand were next to him on the right, then his closet and desk were on the wall opposite him. His bed to his left and then an empty spot. He could never figure out what to put there. Then of course where he was currently standing, the door. 

 Slowly he pushed himself off the door and over to his bed where he collapsed, letting the softness and warmth of his blankets consume him. He closed his eyes and relaxed, though he knew that he wouldn’t be relaxed for long, his parents would soon figure out that he was home, and of course his dad would want to know how his day was, and if he got into trouble, or if he was picked on at all, oh and of course, did he see his precious girlfriend today. Ugh, he could picture his dad’s teasing, smiling face looking at him already. Karkat shuddered. Then after all that, his brother will be mentioned, and all hell will break loose. How many more years until I can move out? He thought to himself. He remembered how jealous he was of his brother Kankri when he moved out and got an apartment with his boyfriend Jayson Vishbe. Haha, oh those two are so funny together, how Jayson can handle Kankri’s nonstop chatter was beyond Karkat’s comprehension. Kankri can talk faster than a car going 100 m.p.h. or at least, Kk thought so. Speaking of Kankri, he was supposed to call him. Karkat sat up on his bed and looked around, he saw his phone and groaned. This was the last thing he wanted to do right now. The last thing he wanted to do… ever.

 Karkat reached over and grabbed his cell phone, slowly, Kk dialed his brother’s number and hit send. The phone rang and a couple seconds later it picked up and Karkat was met by silence at the other end. “Hello, Kankri?”

“[No. Kan went out to the store, he left his cell phone here.]” Came a mechanic voice.

Karkat smiled. Jayson answered the phone, well that’s a lot better. Jayson is pretty easy to talk to. “Hey Jayson, when is Kanny coming back? I need to talk to him.” He is met by silence again.

“[Kan will be back very soon. You can come over and wait for him if you want.]”

“Yeah. Okay, I’ll be right over. It’ll be better to talk to Kankri face to face instead of over the phone.”

“[That doesn’t sound good.]”

“Yeah, I don’t know. I’ll tell you about it when I get there. See ya in a few Jayson.” Karkat hangs up and climbs off his bed. He makes his way through his house, surprised at how quiet it is. Karkat passes by his father’s study and he can hear the clicking of the keys on his dad’s computer. Oh, he’s working. No wonder it’s so fucking quiet. He heads through the living to the front door. Karkat peeks into the kitchen and sees his mom standing in front of the stove. He smiles and moves on to the front door. Once outside he slows down and lazily walks toward Kankri’s apartment.

 At least I don’t have to deal with dad for right now. He smiles at the thought. He really did love his dad, but right now… things were a little awkward between them. The sound of skating wheels and a tap on his shoulder pulled him out of his thoughts before he could really get into them. Karkat glanced up to see his friend Xander Vishbe walking beside him carrying a skateboard in his hands. “Hey Xan.”

 “Sup dude.” Karkat shrugs and keeps walking, staring at the ground as he walks Xander continues walking next to him, studying him for a minute before talking. “Jayson texted me, he said that you were sounding a bit different. Not you usual self are the words he used. I didn’t really understand what he meant until now.”

 “I’m alright.” He looks at Xander and smiles. “It’s just, my dad is home from one of his trips.”

 “Oh, I see.”

 “Yeah.” They continue walking in silence. Neither of them speak until the turn down the street that their brothers live on.

 “So you left your house to get away from your dad’s sermons and you’re walking straight into one of your brother’s lectures.”

 Karkat chuckles and shakes his head. “Trust me, I don’t want to. But I have to ask our brothers for a favor. Vatria sent me, to be honest.” Xander grins and nods. He now understood everything. Karkat would do anything for that girl. Kk glances at Xan, as they walk up the steps to Kankri’s apartment, and notices the grin right away. “What?”

 Xander smirks and knocks on the door. “Oh nothing. But this brotherly visit makes perfect sense now.” Kar can respond the door swings open and Jayson is standing there in front of them. Jay smiles at Before Karkat then looks at Xander and furrows his brows in confusion.

**“What’s he doing here?”** Jayson asked, using sign language.

 Karkat chuckled. “For a mute guy you do talk a lot.” Jayson frowns when Kk said that.

 “Dude, you called me and told me about Karkat’s attitude earlier. So of course I was going to track him down and find out what’s wrong.”

**“And?”**

 “And he won’t say.”

 “Not until I get here. Is Kanny home yet?” Jayson smiles and nods as he backs out of their way, letting the boys in. He closes the door behind them and goes into the living room where one of his favorite movies, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, was playing on the t.v. Karkat glances at it and snickers. “Xan what the fuck is it with your brother and that movie?”

 “I dunno man, he just loves Indiana Jones. Always has.” Both boys shake their head as they go toward the kitchen. Karkat is surprised to find Kankri, sitting at the kitchen table with a jar of peanut butter in front of him, and a spoon in his mouth. Xander laughs. “So this is how my brother can shut you up.”

 Kankri just looks up and shrugs then goes back to eating. Karkat looks confused for a minute then smiles. This will be easier than I thought. He sits down across from his brother and Xander sits beside him. They are all quiet for a while before Kankri sets the jar down and looks toward the living room. “Jayson, I think my brother is waiting for both of us to be in here, so he can tell us what ever it is that he is wanting to tell us. I believe it may be of some importance, since he usually will just text us if he wants to talk. So if you would please be kind enough to come in here, it would be most appreciated.”

 The sound from the television shuts off and Jayson appears in the kitchen moments later, clearly at least a little pissed. He walks over to Kanny and grabs the spoon, he scoops more peanut butter out and sticks it in Kankri’s mouth then sits down between the two Vantas brothers and looks at Karkat who is looking a little confused. “Have you two had a fight or something?”

 Jayson pulls out his iPad and types something on to it. A few seconds later a recorded voice is heard. “[Yes, sort of. But don’t worry about it, what did you want to tell us?]”

 Karkat nodded, “It’s about Will. Vatria’s brother.” Both Kankri and Jayson expressions changed from annoyance and curiosity to almost sheer panic.Karkat noticed immediately and he continued quickly. “He was in the army and has just gotten back.”

 The older brothers seemed to relax slightly. Kan pulls the spoon out of his mouth and points it at Karkat. “We know he was in the army, but you say he’s back? That’s wonderful. We should-”

 Karkat shakes his head sadly which makes Kankri shut up. “He’s in an army hospital, he was wounded in the war. He’s lost his right eye and he has a scar on his face. Vatria says that it’s not that bad but undoubtedly Will thinks he’s horrible looking or something. He won’t let Vatria see him and she really wants to.”

 “[You want us to go talk to him?]”

 Karkat smiles. “If you would, I said I’d talk to you, but it’s your choice in the end.”

 Jayson and Kankri look at each other for a minute and then they both nod. “Why not.” Kankri says. “It’ll be nice to see Willen again.” Karkat’s smile gets bigger when his brother says that. Just then Xander’s phone chimed and he glances at it. After a moment his cheeks blush a little and he starts smiling.

 “Um hey guys, I’ve gotta go.” Xander says quickly as he stands up and heads into the living room. “I’ll talk to you all later. Bye.” With that he ran out of the door. Karkat watched him leave then looks at the others.

 “What the everloving fuck was that all about?” Jayson shrugged and Kankri shoved some more peanut butter in his mouth to keep from commenting on Karkat’s language. After a minute Karkat got up and started walking toward the living room. “I’m going to go too. Let me know when you boys are going to go see Will, okay?” They both nod. Karkat waves at them and heads out the door. When he reached the bottom of the stairs Karkat sighed, mission accomplished. He looks from one side of the parking lot to the other. Now where did his little friend go?


	2. CHAPTER TWO: He Said. As He Faded Away.

 A week had gone by and Karkat is beginning to get annoyed. Xander hasn’t spoken to him at all since their visit to Kankri and Jayson’s place, and he won’t respond to texts or emails either. Karkat checks his phone for the millionth time before flopping onto his bed and tossing his cell phone down beside him. Maybe he’s been really busy lately. Karkat thinks to himself. Or maybe he could be in some kind of trouble……. Nah, that would be Gamzee, not Xander. Karkat takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, slowly letting the breath out again. I need to stop worrying, whatever is going on with Xander, he’ll tell me about it when he’s ready. Just then, his cell phone chimes a text alert. Karkat sits up immediately and looks at his phone. It’s from Vatria. {> Heeey Kitkat, FYI if you want to know where fi5h boy ha5 been the5e pa5t few day5, a5k the 5hipper. <} Karkat laughed, ‘fish boy’ Yeah that’s Xander alright. Vatria had been calling him that ever since Karkat could remember, it had something to do with Xander’s last name and the fact that he can hold his breath underwater for an inhumanly amount of time. What was that last name part again? Karkat thought for a while. Oh yeah, Xander and Vatria first met, she thought he had said his name was Xander Fishboy, instead of Vishbe. He smiled, only Vatria would hear something like that. Karkat looks down at the text again. Wait a minute….. Ask the shipper….. Ask the shipper? What does Nepeta have to do with this? He sighs, okay, Nepeta has had a crush on Karkat since elementary school. So getting info from her should be easy, she’ll do anything he asks, and boy does Karkat know that. Karkat is pulled out of his thoughts by another text message. He looks down, it’s Vatria again. {> Hey, on 5econd thought, I pulled up the GP5 up on Fi5h boy’5 phone. Meet me out front of your hou5e in… Well now. 8) <} Karkat jumped out of his bed. “She’s here now?! Oh fuck.” He quickly slid his shoes on, smoothed his hair and ran out the door. Sure enough Vatria was sitting on his front steps with her roller blades on. “Why didn’t you call before coming over? I could’ve been busy or something.” He said as he slipped a black hoodie on over his black and gray t-shirt.

 Vatria smiled and stood up, using Karkat’s arm as a support as she steadied herself on her skates. “Karkat, when have you ever thaid no to thomething I thuggethted? Of courthe I knew you would come running out ath thoon ath I thent the methage.” 

 “Touche’.” He smiled back and kissed her forehead. “Alright, which way do we go?”

 “Thith way.” She points to the right and takes off down the sidewalk. He grabs his bike and follows her. They go through several neighborhoods, talking a bit as they ride. Though neither of them pay much attention, they can hear the sounds of life, children laughing, cars driving by, people talking, but none of that mattered, especially to Karkat, he was enjoying himself too much talking to Vatria. Soon they reach a main road and Karkat looks around, slightly confused.

 “Wait a minute. Isn’t this Prospit?” He looked at the larger, wealthier looking homes and expensive shops. He’s only been on this side of town twice. Both times were to see Vatria.

 “Yup, thith ith Prothpit.”

 “What is Xander doing over here?”

 Vatria smirks. “Come with me.” They go down the road and arrive across the street from a large white house with a domed roof. Vat points at the house. “There. Thith ith where fith boy liketh to vanith to after thchool every fucking day.”

 “Why?”

 “You’ll thee thoon enough.”

 

~~~

 

(ONE MONTH EARLIER)

 Xander Vishbe was running late for school, again. He arrived in time to shove his books and bag into his locker and run to his first class, walking in right as the teacher started the lesson. “Sorry Mr. Noir” 

 Mr. Noir rolls his eyes and sighs.  “Mr. Vishbe, I would appreciate it if you can find it in yourself to arrive on time from now on.” 

 “Um, yes sir.” Xander quickly walks over to his desk and sits down, right next him is a girl about his age, with short light brown hair and dark purple eyes, she glances at him and smiles.

 “Hi.”

 He looks around before realizing that she was speaking to him, he smiles back. “Hi.” He looks around for a minute before whispering to her. “You’re new here aren’t you?”

 “Yes I am.” She whispered back. “How did you know?”

 “Because you-” He was interrupted by Mr. Noir smacking a book against the teacher’s desk. Xander looked up startled. “Oh boy.” He caught Karkat and another friend of theirs glancing back with a slight smirk on their faces.

 “Mr. Vishbe.” His teacher stood up, cause Xander to slide down in his chair nervously.

 “Y-yes sir?”

 “May I ask why you insist on trying my patience this year?”

 “I’m not trying to sir. It’s all completely accidental.”

 The girl raises her hand and stands up. “Mr. Noir, it wasn’t the boy’s fault. I spoke to him, he was only being polite by replying.”

 “Miss Markay, thank you for your input, even though I never gave you permission to speak.” At that the girl automatically sat down again. “But Xander Vishbe is known for talking when he’s not supposed to and for showing up late, not turning his homework in on time, and for pranking other students and myself.”

 The girl looks at Xander. “You pranked the teacher? Oh my god dude, that’s awesome.”

 “I’m not the prankster sir. I have never pranked anyone, ever. The pranking title has always been in the Skygee family not the Vishbes.”

 “Oh fuck you Fithdick!” Came Vatria’s voice from the back of the room. Which made Xander smirk and the Markay girl laugh. Again Mr. Noir smacked his book on his desk, this time a bit harder making most of the kids jump.

 “Okay that is it. I have had enough. Xander Vishbe, Vatria Skygee and Brelyn Markay. You are all to stay after school, two hours a day for the rest of the week.” All three kids started talking at once until the teacher slammed his book down again. Silence fell across the whole room and after a moment the teacher sat down again. “Now, anyone else want to say something? No? Good. Back to your lesson.” The rest of the history class was spent in silence, Xander glanced at Brelyn multiple times surprised to see that she was either smirking or glancing at him also. He didn’t dare look at Vatria, he was certain he knew what was going on in her mind.

 After school was out and detention was over, the three kids walked out of the school. Vatria refused to say anything or even look at Xander, she just put her skates on and took off for home as soon as they were outside. Xander walked out slipping his backpack on and staring at the ground, he stopped as he felt a hand touch his shoulder and looked up. Brelyn stood there next to him smiling. “I’m sorry I got you in trouble.”

 “It wasn’t your fault. He was right for the most part. I do talk when I’m not supposed to and I do come in late most of the time.” He started walking again.

 She walked beside him silently for a minute before looking at him again. “I’m Brelyn by the way. Brelyn Markay.” She held her hand out toward him, Xan smiled and took it.

 “I’m Xander Vishbe.”

 “Nice to meet you Xander.”

 “Nice to meet you too Brelyn.” Xander glances up and sees a car parked at the curb. Jayson is sitting inside it. “Oh um…. My brother has been sent here to get me. I’m pretty sure that he’s pissed about that.”

 “Heheh, yeah. Actually my brother is around here somewhere. Simmon won’t go home until I do. So I should go find him.” She starts walking away. “I’ll see you tomorrow Xander.”

 “Yeah, see you tomorrow.” Xander walked to the car and climbed in, not realizing that he had a goofy little smile plastered on his face. Though they sat in silence for the duration of the trip Jayson noticed and wanted to mention Xander’s smile, but he decided against it. That is until they reached their house, Jayson then turned to Xander, tapped his shoulder and once he had Xan’s attention he began signing.

**“Dude, what’s with the smile?”**

 Xander looks at him slightly confused. “What smile?”

**“The one that’s been stuck on your face since we left the school.”** Jayson smirks.

 Xander blushes and turns away from his brother. "I-it's nothing."

 Jayson rolls his eyes and taps Xander's shoulder. When the younger Vishbe looks at him, Jay signs again. **"Nothing my ass. Dude that smile is seriously something, now come on. Out with it."**

 "It's nothing, honest." He grabs his backpack and opens the car door.

**"What's her name?"** Jayson asks, his smirk returning. 

 Xander stares at his brother, his eyes wide and his mouth open slightly. It takes him a minute before Xander responds, and when he does he talks very quietly. "Brelyn Markay." He blushes as he speaks.

 Jayson nods.  **"Now why didn't you just say so in the first place?"** He signs, teasingly. Xander groans and cimbs out of the car. He slams the door and marches up to the house flipping off his brother on the way up. Jayson silently laughs as he pulls out of the driveway and heads home.

 Xander enters his house and goes straight to his room, tossing his backpack in one corner of his room and flopping onto his bed. Xander laid there staring at the ceiling, he started thinking about his day and his brother, and school, and then his thoughts led him back to Brelyn and he smiled again. Slowly his eyes started closing and he fell asleep, dreaming of his new crush.

 The next morning Xander got up early for school. He surprised everyone by showing up on time if not a little early for the rest of the week. Xan and Brelyn began hanging out before school and at lunch during the entire time they had detention, which made a few kids a bit suspicious. Especially a young girl named Nepeta Lejion. Nepeta kept a shipping chart of everyone in the school, the only two people who she never added to the chart was Eridan Ampora and Xander Vishbe. She was so into this that if someone who she thought of as an OTP would breakup or start dating someone else, Nep would become depressed and mope around for a couple days. But that rarely ever happened, this girl was almost always right. 

 Two weeks after the last day of detention, Xander and Brelyn were sitting close together at lunch with Brelyn's twin brother Simmon sitting across from them, Nepeta had been watching the two of them for sometime now and she decided to find out for certain if she was right. Nep leaned over and tapped the shoulder of the boy sitting next to her. "Hello Tevhiss." 

 The boy, Tevris Amaria rolled his eyes and looked at Nepeta. The look on his face was one of complete annoyance. Which was the look he always had when talking to Nepeta. Or at least, the look he had since she predicted that he and his current girlfriend, Anetia Marvoe, would end up together... Which they did, and that was the reason he was annoyed everytime Nepeta would talk to him and why he always tried to avoid her, he hates it when she's right. But this time, his talking to her appeared unavoidable. "Hello Lejion."

 She giggled when he answered her. Then with a glance back toward Xan and Bre she stopped giggling and looked at him slightly more seriously. "I was purrious if you wouldn't mind helping me with something?"

 He looked at her slightly surprised. "You are asking for my assistance?"

 "Um..." She thought for a minute then smiled. "Yes. Purrlease?"

 Tevris rolled his eyes at her weird cat puns, she never seemed to stop inventing new ones. He sighed and nodded. "How may I help Mew?" He asked, throwing a little cat pun of his own in there which made Nepeta squeal happily.

 "That was purriliant, Tevhiss." She exclaimed, he just nodded and chuckled quietly. Nepeta slid closer to him so she wouldn't be overheard by the others, her eyes darted to Xander and Brelyn then she looked at Tevris again. "Okay, I need you to find out some info for me."

 "What kind of information?" He asked suspisciously .

 "I think that Xander Hissbe and the mew girl Purrlyn Markay are secretly together. They never seem to be more that a few feet from each other. They always eat together, they laugh and tease each other. I am almost certain they are dating but I can't say for sure." She looked at Tevris, straight in the eyes which made him shift uncomfortably in his seat, though he wasn't sure why. "Xander Hissbe is a furrend of yours right?" Tevris nodded, "Maybe he would tell you. If you asked him nicely." She smiled her cute little smile that seemed to melt almost everyone's heart, sadly 'everyone' included Tevris.

 "Fine I'll talk to him. I'll even talk to the girl to if you want." He says, regretting it immediately afterward.

 With a gasp she threw her arms around his neck and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Thank you so much!" 

 "Really Lejion? Don't do that!" He quickly pushed her off, though he couldn't help the small smile that pulled at the corners of his lips.

 She pulled away from him, looking a bit upset at herself for doing that. "Sorry Tevris." She mumbled, not even bothering to use her nickname for him.

 He sighed. "It's alright Lejion." He gently patted the top of her head as he stood up and carried his tray to the trash can. After he threw away his trash he started walking back toward the lunchroom until he hear a crash just outside the cafeteria. Tevris went to investigate. He walks out to where the noise is and was suprised to see Karkat sitting in a chair, in one of the empty schoolrooms, with Vatria on his lap. Karkat is kissing on her neck and she's giggling at something that he had just said. Both had their backs to Tevris and didn't realize that he was there until Vat happened to glance over Karkat's shoulder.

 "Oh thit." She pulled away real quick and looked at Tevris a bit frightened. Karkat stood up and looked at their friend as well also a bit frightened. "Th-thith ithn't what it lookth like." Karkat shook his head in agreement.

 Tevris crossed his arms and smirked. "No that is exactly what it looks like. I always thought you two made a cute couple." Kk and Vat both looked at the ground guiltily. "Just be glad you're not the ones Lejion is having me spy on." He turned and headed back out the door. Karkat looked at Vatria.

 "That fuckass won't tell anyone will he?"

 "God I hope not." She walked over and wrapped her arms around Karkat's neck and kissed him. "But I don't underthtand why that'th thuch a big deal to you... People knowing I mean."

 "Cause I won't hear the end of it. My friends and family, especially Gamzee and my fuckass of a brother will be teasing me for a long time."

 "Why? Cauthe you have a girlfriend?"

 "No, because they are total fucking dickwads and they've been telling me that you're the perfect girl for me... Which is completely true but, they'll want to take all the credit for us coming together and... I dunno." He sits down and pulls her onto his lap. "They'll start giving me godawful goofy grins and playful irritating winks everytime you're near me, and they'll tease us and pick on us and I really don't want to deal with that fucking shit."

 Vatria snickered. "I gueth I can get that. Kanny ith really annoying thome timeth... But they will figure it out thome point in time."

 Kar sighed. "Fuck, I know. I'm just hoping that'll be sometime in the unforseeable fucking future."

 "What like theveral yearth from now?"

 "Something like that." Karkat heard a sigh from Vat and he looked up at her. "You really want to tell someone don't you?"

 Vatria looked down and nodded. "It would be kind of nice to be able to tell my friendth, or at leatht one friend."

 Karkat thought for a minute and smiled. "Well Tevris knows." He received an 'unamused' look from her and he chuckled. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I really do. When you said yes to being my girlfriend, I just wanted to tell the world. But well, you know how I feel about it right now.... and god forbid if Nepeta found out." He felt Vatria shudder when he said that.

 "Yeah, let'th keep thith to ourthelveth for a little while." 

 Karkat nodded. "I thought you'd agree to that." They both chuckled. Karkat leaned close and kissed her again, unknown to both of them, Gamzee and his best friend Tavros Nitram were spying on them and snickering quietly to themselves.

 "Tavbro I all up and motherfucking knew it" Gamzee said with a grin as he walked away from the door.

 "Uh... kn-knew what, uh... Gamzee?" Tavros jogged to catch up with his tall, lanky, and fast walking friend.  ((Yes, Tavros is not crippled... yet))

 "That those two were more than friends. It was just to obvious." His grin remained as they walked toward their next class. "Question is... should we tell someone?"

 "Tell someone w-what?" Both Gamzee and Tavros rolled their eyes when they heard Eridan behind them, the other voice behind them was a surprise.

 "Yeah, What'th going on?" Asked Sollux. Gamzee and Tavros looked at them.

 "Oh uh, nothing." Gamzee said, hoping that the others wouldn't press him for more information. But sadly, to his dismay, they did.

 "Oh no, that w-wasn't nothin'." Eridan frowned at Makara. "You w-were a' sayin' that some one w-was more than just friends." Gamzee winced when Ampora said that.

 "Yeah, who ith it?" Sollux demanded, crossing his arms. Tavros looked nervously at the other three boys, though something on both Sollux and Eridan's wrists caught his attention and he started staring at them, a slight smirk appeared on his face.

 "Uh... G-Gamzee?" He motioned for the taller boy to lean down so he could whisper to him, after a few seconds Gamzee also glanced at their wrists and smirked.

 Gamzee pointed to their arms. "What all up and happened?" Eridan sighed when he caught a annoyed glance from Sollux, who was the one to answer Gamzee.

 "Fith dick here dethided two thow me a magic trick." he held up his arm which made Eridan's arm, which turned out to be handcuffed to Sollux's arm, rise up as well. "And thith happened." He dropped their arms again. "The thtupid athhole lotht the key." Both Gamzee and Tavros had to supress laughter at that. 

 "Hey my motherfuckin' bros, Tavbro and I have to get into class before we all up and get into trouble. We'll talk to you two later." He nods towad the handcuffs. "Have fun." Gamzee smirks ad he turns and quickly ushers Tavros into the class before Sollux and Eridan could press them for more info on the original discussion topic.

 

~~~

 

 After school Tevris sat outside waiting for Xander, when the latter came out Tevris quickly walked over to him with a slight smirk on his face. "Hello Vishbe."

 Xander stopped and looked at Tevris. "Oh hey T, what's up?" He furrowed his brows at the smirk.  _ Okay, that's a bit odd. _

 "Oh nothing much, I was just um... I was curious about something." Tevris decided to just come right out and ask, after all he hated beating around the bush when it came to these things. It's always best to just say what's on your mind. At least he thinks so.

 "Hm? What's that?" Xander looks at him curiously.

 "Well, you've been hanging around the Markay girl an awful lot... I was wondering if-"

 "If we're dating?" Xander raised his brow a little as he looked at his friend, who lowered his head and nodded slowly.

 "That's a first Vishbe." He said glancing up after a minute. "You caught on to what I was asking about immediately."

 "Only because I caught both you and N watching us all throughout lunch and during the last few classes. And dude, I might have said something before, but since you're working with the Lejion girl..." Xander walked right up to Tevris and smirked. "I ain't telling you shit." He gave Tevris a quick wink and walked away. "See ya later T." 

 Tevris stood there confused for a minute, then he realized what that wink meant.  _ You sneaky little devil. _ He thought as he headed home, he pulled out his cell phone and texted Nepeta. {> Hey Lejion, I go7 7he info you wan7ed. <} He received a reply in what seemed like less than half a second later.

 {> :33< Oh? And what is the Furrdict? <}

 He shook his head.  _ Her and those goddamn cat puns. _ {> You are righ7. He didn'7 ac7ually come ou7 and say 7hey're da7ing... But he didn'7 have 7o. He 7old me wi7hou7 speaking. <}

 {> :33< I don't know how mew do it Mr. Tevhiss... but thanks. - ac updates her shipping wall. -<}

 {> Yeah, okay wha7ever. Is 7here any7hing else you need from me? <}

 {> :33< Nope, thank you for your assistance Mr. Tevhiss. Bye. <}

 {> Bye Lejion. <} He slipped his phone back in his pocket and sighed. At least he doesn't have to deal with her for a long time. Tevris goes into his house and closes the door, he walks through the living room and down the hall when he hears an all to familiar voice behind him.

 "Hello Tevris, you okay Hon?" he turns to see Anetia standing there smiling at him.

 He smiles back. "I am now." His smile turns into a grin.

 Anetia's smile gets bigger. "So how was your day?"

 "Busy, you know how it is, get up, go to school, get bugged by a catgirl who wants you to help her with something, you agree and end up finding out that two of your friends are dating people and never thought about telling you-"

 "What people?" She looks surprised at this information.

 "Vantas and Vishbe."

 "Who are they dating?"

 "Skygee and Markay."

 "Really?! Wait, which Markay?"

 "Huh? Oh right, the girl."

 She grins. "I see. I had a feeling those two were seeing each other. Especially since they've both been vanishing on everyone these past few days. I wonder what is going on?"

 "What do you think is going on?" He sits on the sofa and pats the seat beside him, which she quickly takes leaning over and kissing his cheek before resting her head on his shoulder. "They're probably... well you know."

 "I don't know. I doubt they'd go that far this soon. Besides, it's none of our business."

 "True. Heheh, wait until Vantas finds out, he's gonna flip out." Tevris smirks as he thinks of Karkat's reaction to Xander and Brelyn.

 "Yes he most likely will." At that moment Tev's cell phone dinged a text alert. He pulls the phone out and looks at it. "Who is it?" Anetia asks curiously.

 "It's Skygee." He checks the message which reads {> I5 it true? fi5h boy ha5 a girlfriend?! <}

 He texts back {> How did you know 7ha7? Lejion 7old you didn'7 she? <}  

 {> Ye5 5he did. <} Tevris sighs.  _ Figures. _ He looks at his phone again when Vatria sends another message. {> I've got to tell Kitkat, he'5 going to flip the fuck out! 5ee ya later. <}

 Tevris shakes his head and puts the phone away. "Well that's not going to be good."

 

~~~

 

 (BACK TO PRESENT DAY) Karkat and Vatria are sitting out front of a large home in the wealthy side of town, which is called Prospit. They have been spying on the house for almost three hours and Karkat was ready to call it quits.  _ There's nothing going on here. Maybe Vat got her info wrong. _ Just at the moment the front door opened and Xander and Brelyn walked outside, he slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her up against him then kissed her. Karkat's mouth opened a bit as he stared in shock. "Him?... With her?!" He had to cover his mouth to keep from yelling.

 "I know, it thocked me too. But I have to admit, they make a cute fucking couple." Karkat nodded in agreement, though he was ready to go say something to Xander.

 But he didn't get a chance. His phone rang and he answered it without even checking to see who it was. "Hello? Whoever this is it better be fucking good!"

 {"Karkat?"}

_ Oh great. _ Vatria tilted her head to the side and furrowed her brows when he rolled his eyes. He looked at her and mouthed. 'It's Kankri' She nodded and smiled. "What do you want fuckass?!" Karkat's demeanor did a complete 360 when he heard the tears behind his brother's voice.

 {"Karkat can you find Xander and come over please?"}

 "Why? Kan are you alright? W-what happened?"

 {"It's Jayson..."} There was silence on the other end for a minute that almost drove Karkat insane, finally he heard his brother's voice again. {"Karkat, Jayson is dead."} He could hear Kankri break down into tears when he said that. 

 Kar pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at in shock and horror. He looked up at Xander who was still happy and laughing and kissing Brelyn.  _ This is going to break him _ Karkat swallowed back a lump in his throat as he put the phone up to his ear again. "Bro, we're on our way."


	3. CHAPTER THREE: Don't Put Your Life in Someone's Hands

 Xander sat on the couch in Kankri's apartment staring at the ground, small tears dripping down his cheeks. "H-how did it happen?" He asked, his voice barely above a whisper. "Was it... Was it a car accident? A fire? What?"  
 Kankri looked up at the police officer that was in the room with them. Karkat shifted nervously in his chair, not sure that he wanted to hear the answer. The policeman sighed before speaking, he himself didn't want to have to tell them. "He was murdered."  
 Karkat sat up straight staring at the officer in shock. "He was what?!"  
 "How? How was he killed?"  
 The policeman was quiet for a long time before answering. "He was impaled on a tree."  
 "What?!" Came the voices of all three boys at once. Shock and horror in their voices. Karkat jumped up, shaking his head. "That is the weirdest most fucking insane thing I have ever heard of. Shit like that only happens in horror movies."  
 "Son." The policeman walks up and puts his hands on Karkat's shoulders. "I'm sorry, but I saw the body myself."  
 "No!" Karkat pulls away from the man and begins pacing the room. Kankri watched his brother for a minute before looking back at the cop.  
 "Was there anything else that happened to him sir?" The policeman sighs and nods slowly in response to Kankri's question. "Well what was it?"  
 "His body had been cut open... all of his organs had been cut out of him, sealed in bags and put back in, then he was stitched up again."  
 "That is the sickest thing I've ever heard of in my life." Karkat mumbled shaking his head and staring at the floor.  
 Xander closed his eyes and buried his face in his hands. "Was he still alive when that happened?" He asked, his voice muffled.  
 "........Yes." As soon as the officer said that Xander bolted out the door, fighting back tears the entire time, Karkat of course was right behind him, Xander didn't stop until he reached the local park.  
 He reaches a small group of trees and drops to his knees, sobbing. Karkat slowed down a few feet behind Xander and walked over to him, he kneels down and wraps his arms around his best friend. "I'm so fucking sorry Xan." Kk said, his voice barely above a whisper.  
 "Why? Why Jayson? This isn't fair..." He cries hugging onto Karkat.  
 "No it's not fair." Karkat holds Xander and stares at the ground, tears welling up in his eyes as Kk fought really hard to keep them back.  
 "I want to know..."  
 Karkat frowns. "Want to know what?"  
 "Who killed my brother... I need to know." Xander looks up at Karkat and pulls back from the hug, wiping his tears away. "S-sorry."  
 "No, it's fine. You need to cry... Fuck dude it's perfectly natural at times like this. But don't worry we'll find out who did it. I'm going to make sure of it. L-let's just get you home." Karkat stands up and offers a hand to Xander who reluctantly takes it and also stands. Karkat walks him back to his house, then heads home himself. There was a lot on his mind and a lot he needed to figure out. The outrageous way that Jayson died seemed familiar to Karkat... too familiar.  
  
~~~  
  
 I'm hungry Those were the only thoughts in his head as he climbed over the fence into her back yard. So fucking hungry  He glanced around, hiding in the shadows, carefully making his way to the back door. One slow careful step after another. Where is it? He should be here? That crazy mutt is always out here. Chasing me away from her. He looks up at the back door, through the window he can see his target. A young girl with med. length light brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. She was wearing a hot pink tank top, pink and red polka dotted shorts and red flip flops. It appeared that she was making herself dinner. One would think that with her living in Prospit and being rich and all, that her parents would be home right now... oh well, I've been after this one for a while. I hope she goes to bed soon. I'm starving. He shuffled quietly up to the door and peered in the window. He reached a hand up and wiped something off his blue tinted face then looked down at his hand, he doesn't know why he bothers wiping it away... Those black tears won't stop dripping from his eyes anytime soon.  
 The girl continued running around the kitchen, making what appears to be her dinner. She still hadn't spotted him yet and for that he was thankful. He glanced around him a few times. No seriously, where is that dog? He's never let me get this close to the house before. A sound surprised him and he looked in the house again. He could hear music coming from a stereo on the counter and she could be heard singing along to it. He became quite amused at this to be honest and stood there watching for a long time. The girl sat down to eat after a while and typed away at her laptop which was purple and had an orange flame on the cover of it. Such a bright shade of orange it hurt to look at it. At least to him. The hunger was really hitting him and he slipped his hand inside his hoodie pocket, his hand gently rubbing his extremely sharp knife. He considers breaking his rules and attacking now even though that would mean killing the girl instead of just wounding her. He reached his other hand up, and slowly wrapped his fingers around the sliding glass doorhandle, quietly pulling it open a little.  
 And that was when he heard it. Barking. Loud, deep, obnoxious barking that he dreaded everytime he attempted approaching the house. He looked all around but saw nothing. There was no dog in sight, but he could hear it. He listened carefully, the barks seemed to come from above him. He glanced up and sure enough, the dog was looking right at him from the upstairs window. Well, he's up there. Still can't get to me. His hand grabs the doorhandle as he's watching the dog. He looks back down at the girl in the kitchen, preparing to open the door, just to see her staring back at him, wide eyed and frightened. Well shit.    
  
~~~  
  
 (ONE AND A HALF MONTHS AGO) Vatria's brother Willen Skygee has come back to the US from his services in the military. He lost his eye in a battle and now is recovering in an army hospital not far from his home. His army buddy, Vektan Torque comes to visit him everyday. But today is a bit different than most, today Vektan is bringing his  little sister along with him. It's his sister Ana's seventeenth birthday and though Will insisted Vek spend it with her, he decided to go visit Willen. Ana, having heard a bunch of stories, begged to come along, and eventually Vektan said yes. The duo walks into the hospital room to find Will apparently sleeping.   
 "Oh, did We come at a bad time?" Ana whispers to her brother, smiling at the sleeping Will.  
 "Nah, he'll wake up soon. We can just sit over here," Points to a couple chairs in the corner of the room, "and wait for him to wake up." Ana nods and sits in one of the chair, Vektan sits quietly beside her, he leans over and whispers to her. "Okay, one thing. Will is very self conscious about his eye..." Ana nods in understanding, "Yes, so please try to avoid that during the conversation."  
 "Alright, I understand." Ana hears a rustling sound coming from the bed and looks up to see Will peeking down at them. "Morning sleepy head." She says with a smile.  
 "Mornin'." He rolls over and slowly sits up being careful not to pull any IVs out. "So, you came anyway. I thought I said to spend the day with your sister."  
 "I am." Vektan smiles. "She's here isn't she. Technically I am spending the day with her."  
 Ana giggles. "It's alright, I begged him to let me come. It took hours but he finally said yes."  
 Will looks a bit confused. "You, you wanted to see me?"  
 "Vek has told me so much about you," She shrugs. "I wanted to come meet the hero myself." She stands up and walks over to him, smiling.  
 "Heh, I'm no hero." Willen awkwardly smiles back, though he tries to avoid eye contact with her, and keeps his head turned a bit so she can't see his wounded eye. Ana sits on the bed next him and smiles sweetly.  
 "A soldier who is willing to die for his country, his friends, and his family.... That's what I call a hero."  
 Will stares at her for a minute before looking at Vektan. "Why the hell didn't you bring this girl here sooner?" She chuckles and Vektan laughs, Will chuckles a bit himself. "Thank you." He said looking back at Ana again. "I needed that bit of encouragement."  
 "You're welcome Private Skygee."  
 "That's Will to you." He says with a grin.  
 "Okay then, Will."  Ana giggles and brushes her reddish brown hair out of her face. Vektan leans back in his chair and crosses his arms and legs, looking at them quite amused.  
 "Well, you two are getting on better then I had hoped. This is brilliant." Vek says. Ana rolls her eyes and glances at her brother, playfully sticking her tongue out at him which he chuckles at. His smile fades slightly when he notices Will watching her, Willen's eyes trail up and down her for a moment before he shakes his head and looks away, right before she turns toward him again.  
 "Are you okay Will?" She asks. He glances at her and nods quickly.  
 "Honestly, I'm a little hungry." He mumbles. Ana glances at Vektan who gestures toward the door. Ana understands and goes to find a nurse to ask about some breakfast. Will sighs and looks at Vek, who is frowning at him. "What's the matter?"  
 "Do you like her?" Will's eye widens a little, as Vektan seems to frown a bit more.  
 "Well, she seems nice enough. And I suppose she's cute-"  
 "Yeah I know you think she's cute." Before Willen could say anything Vektan continues, "I caught you checking her out."  
 "Uh... fuck. No I just glanced at her for a second that's all, I swear." Will put his hands up defensively. Vektan chuckled at that as he stood and walked over to Will.  
 "Don't worry dude. She may be my sister, but even I can tell that she's a pretty girl." He rests a hand on Will's shoulder and smiles. "I understand if you're attracted to her." Will shakes his head quickly. "Oh? I thought you like her."  
 "How could I like her? I just met her." He blinks a few times and rubs his injured eye, which doesn't hurt him anymore, but it itches insanely bad.  
 "I dunno, but from what I've told her and the pictures of you that she's seen... I can say for certain that she likes you." Will pauses mid-rub and looks at him.   
 "She.... what?!"  
 "VEKTAN!!" Ana's angry voice comes from the doorway. Her brother cringes at her voice.  
 "Oh shit."  
  
~~~  
  
 "No Vatria, I haven't talked to him since his brother died. That was two weeks ago. We've never gone this long without talking since Xander and I met." Brelyn Markay said as she walked home with her phone up to her ear.  
 {"Yeah, well it'th not like I care or anything, but thith ith the longetht he'th gone without talking to ANYONE."} Came Vatria's reply. Brelyn looked at the ground. That was true, he was TOO chatty sometimes, but he was never quiet. She kicked a stone out into the street and sighed. Bre never had to deal with someone going through a depression before, especially her boyfriend, she didn't really know what to do. She walked in silence for sometime making Vatria wonder if she was even there. {"Um... Hello? Brelyn?"}  
 Vatria's voice snapped her out of her thoughts, she shook her head before responding. "What? Oh god, I'm sorry. I kinda drifted into my own thoughts for a moment."  
 {"Yeah no kidding. A moment? Try minuteth!"}  
 "I said sorry... but still, what do you think I should do? Go to Xander's house and talk to him? And if it's that easy why don't you do it yourself?"  
 {"Kitkat hath already tried going to fithboy'th houthe... numerouth timeth. The jackath won't anthwer."}  
 "Then what am I supposed to do?" Brelyn hears a crunch sound behind her and she stops and listens. "Hang on a second Vatria." She looks all around her but sees nothing. Bre starts walking a bit faster, she hates walking home in the dark. "I'm back, I thought I heard something but there was no one there."  
 {"Haha, maybe it wath the invithible man."} Bre rolled her eyes at Vat's lame joke. {"Okay that thounded better in my head. Anyway, What you need to do ith find him. He'th definitely at home, but jutht won't talk to anybody. Your job ith to get him to come out, or at leatht get in and talk to him. He needth comforting and, well... I'm thure hith girlfriend would be up for the job. ;)"}  
 Brelyn shakes her head. "Okay first of all, wiping that fucking smirk off your face. Even though I can't see you I can still 'feel' you smirking at me. And second of all, No. I wouldn't even dare think about what you were-"  
 {"Dude, chill, I wath joking. Lighten up a bit Brelyn. Anyway jutht go talk to him, even if you have to break into hith houthe to do it."}  
 "Alright, alright, I've got the picture. Hey I'll talk to him tomorrow okay? I'm almost home, so I'm going to go." After a bit of protest from Vatria she finally gets off the phone and goes inside her home. "Sim! Simmon I'm home!" She gets no response. "Where on earth is he?" She heads into the kitchen where she spots a note on the fridge which reads:  
 'Going over to Tearo5e'5 hou5e for a bit. 5ee you when I get ho3e. -5uper3aniac'  
 Brelyn rolls her eyes as she crumbles the paper and tosses it in the trash. "I wish he would not use his internet username as his signature all the time." Bre complain as she gathered things for dinner. "And I wonder where he put the dog...? Tana?" She called out then heard a bouncing coming from upstairs. "Heh heh, locked ya in there again did he? Alright I'll let you downstairs after dinner."  
 She spends a good long while on her computer chatting with friends and working on her homework. After about an hour passes Bre goes into the refrigerator and pulls out a quick meal of some bread, lunch meat and mayo. She also pulled out a spinach salad. Brelyn turns on her stereo and sings along with the songs as she makes her dinner.   
 "Look like a girl but I think like a guy  
Not ladylike to behave like a slime  
Easy to be sleazy when you've got a filthy mind  
You stick to your yogurts  
I'll stick to my apple pie  
  
 Girls are not meant to fight dirty  
Never look a day past thirty  
Not gonna bend over and curtsy for you  
  
 Is there any possibility  
You'll quit gossiping about me  
To hide your insecurities?  
All you say is "blah, blah"  
  
 Girls they never befriend me  
'Cause I fall asleep when they speak  
Of all the calories they eat  
All they say is "na na na na na" (na na na na na)"  
 After a while she sits down to eat and pulls out her purple and bright orange laptop. She finds a message on G+ and clicks on it. Oh great, it's from Simmon.  
 [Hey 5i5, can Ro5e and I co3e 5tay over at our hou5e? Her 5i5ter Natalia i5 ho3e for the weekend and won't leave u5 alone. Your bro. - 5uper3aniac]  
 "Oh my god, why?" she faceplanted on the computer for a minute before lifting her head and growling. "Oh, another message?" She mumbles as her notification lights up again. Bre clicks on it to see another message from her brother.  
 [P.5. I love you. - 5uper3aniac]  
 "I'm going to kill him." She mutters and sends her response. [yEs shE cAn cOmE OvEr sImmOn... bUt yOU wIll OwE mE bIg tImE. I wAs hOpIng fOr A qUIEt pEAcEfUl nIght. - flamingDestiny] She sends the message the smirks. [p.s. lOvE yOU tOO. - flamingDestiny] "Heh heh heh." She sends the message and gets a '- _ -' as a reply, which only makes her laugh. "Yeah, you know you love me." Bre says as she carries her dirty dishes to the sink and cleans up from dinner. Just then, she hears her dog barking upstairs, like crazy. She calls up to the dog as she's cleaning the table.  "Tana that's enou -" Brelyn freezes in mid sentence and stares in shock and horror at the sliding glass door to her back yard.  
 A young man was standing just outside the door. He was wearing a black hood and black pants, one hand was in his pocket and the other was on the doorhandle. But that wasn't what shocked her, it was his face. Bre couldn't tell if it was the lighting or the fact that it was night time or what, but his face was blue... literally blue! She couldn't see a mouth or a nose, his blue face was featureless except for where his eyes were, or rather where they should be. There seemed to be nothing there, it was just black, two black holes with some dark liquids running from them. It made her shudder, he almost appeared ghostlike to her, but yet she could tell that he was a solid being.  
 Brelyn backs up against the counter and reaches a hand down, slowly opening a drawer and pulling out a large butcher knife and hiding it behind her back. She watched him carefully as he appeared to be debating whether to try to come in or not. "Don't do it, don't you fucking do it." She mumbled as she watched him. At that moment the front door opened and slammed closed, Bre jumps and looks toward the hallway leading to the livingroom. She can hear her brother by the front door.  
 "Hey Sis, we're here."  
 "Simmon! D-don't come in here!" She shouts. "Go let Tana down here, quickly!" Brelyn looks at the door, the man looks upstairs then back down at her, she smirks at him.  
 "You want me to what? Why?"  
 "Please... Just do what I said!" There is a bit of fear in her voice and Simmon hears it. He obeys immediately. Bre looks at the young man. "You better run." He starts to open the door quickly and go inside but Tana's barking gets louder as she hurriedly makes her way to the kitchen. He changes his mind and runs, the dog right on his heels. He jumps over the back fence and disappears into the night. The dog stops at the fence, snarling and barking at the strange person. Simmon and Tearose stood in the kitchen next to Bre, they saw a glimpse of him, and were completely confused.  
 "Who was that?" Sim asked, walking over to his sister.  
 "I don't know." Bre answered, as she leaned against the counter breathing heavily. Sim grabbed the knife from her hand and set it on the counter beside her. "But, I don't think he was human." She looks at Sim and sighed.


	4. CHAPTER FOUR: They're Bound To Steal It Away

 Xander lays on his bed staring out the window. Everything seemed darker these days, it was always raining and the sun never shined. All he could think of was how the last time he spoke with his brother he had gotten mad and flipped Jayson off. He closes his eyes tightly at the thought. I'm sorry Jay, I'm so, so sorry.  He thought to himself, crying silently.   
 Tap. Tap. Tap. Xander's eyes snapped open at the tapping sound on his window. Tap. Tap. Tap. The sound came again. Confused, he slowly stood up and walked to the window. "Who's there?" He called out.   
 "It's me silly. Who else would sneak up to your window?" Came Brelyn's voice as she climbed into view. He rolled his eyes and walked back over and climb into bed again, which made her frown and tap on the window again. "Hey, I came here to see you. Don't leave me outside, it's raining."   
 "Then go home."   
 "What? No! Look if you don't let me in then I will break the window and come in myself!" Her voice had a touch of anger to it, that made him roll over and look at her. After a moment he got up and slowly walked to the window and unlocked it.   
 "Happy now?" He asked sarcastically as he walked back to the bed and she climbed in.   
 "Yes I am to be honest. I'm not getting wet anymore." Brelyn replied, ignoring his sarcasm. She walks over to the bed and sits next to him. Xander is laying there with his back to her, curled up on top of the blankets. She sat there quietly for a few minutes before speaking. "How are you doing?" Xander only shrugged in response. "Would you like to talk about it?" He quickly shook his head. "Are you sure?" He nodded. "It might help." He gave no response to that, like he was possibly thinking it over. It seemed like forever before there was any response out of him, long enough that Brelyn began to give up. Suddenly Xander sat up and looked at her, tears streaming down his face.   
 "I... I was mean to him... Last time Jay and I talked..." He wiped his eyes and stared down at his lap, twisting his fingers nervously. "He w-was teasing... me... about you... cause he figured out that I uh... that I liked you... a-and I got mad at him......" Xander went silent for a while, Bre reached up and gently played with his hair. she knew that usually helped if he was upset about something. After a minute he spoke again. "I flipped him off on my way up to the house.... and that was the last time he ever saw me." Xan turned and hugged her, tears streaming down his face. Bre sat quietly beside him, hugging him back. "I'm sorry..." He whispered multiple times, obviously whispering it to Jayson, even though Jay couldn't hear him. ".... I love him." Xander hugged tighter.   
 "I know you do." Brelyn bit her lip trying not to cry herself, though she never got to meet Jayson, she felt like she knew him her whole life, just by how Xan always talked about him. The boy looked up to his older brother, he adored him, not matter how many times they would get on each others nerves.   
 Xander whined in the midst of his crying and she looked at him again. "I.... I just want him back!" He said as his cries turned to sobs. She nodded as she continued comforting him, a couple tears slipping down her own cheeks. Suddenly a hardness came over Xander and she looked at him. An expression of anger and hatred came over his face as he stared at the ground. "I'm going to find him." He growled. "I'm going to find that son of a bitch and he is going to pay."   
 Brelyn looked a little scared at the sudden change. "Xan? M-maybe you should talk to Karkat first. He did say that he is going to find the guy." Xander looked at her and sighed. "Don't worry Xander, that man, whoever he is. Will be found. I promise." His expression softened when she said that and he nodded slowly before hugging her again. Brelyn closed her eyes and held him close and whispered. "I promise."   
  
  
~~~   
  
 Karkat sat in the local library staring at a bunch of books. He knew that he had heard of this type of killing before. But where, he wasn't sure. That was a very inhuman murder He kept thinking to himself. The word Inhuman repeating itself over and over and over again in his mind. He had drifted off into thought when his cell phone beeped. Karkat picked it up and saw that he had a text from an unknown number. Huh, I wonder who this is Karkat looks at the text. {>H3y m4n l0ng 71m3 n0 533<} Karkat stared at the text with an extremely confused frown on his face. Suddenly he got another text. {>W3ll 1 n3v3r 7h0ugh7 7h47 y0u w0uld f0rg37 y0ur g1rlfr13nd'5..... 0h 1'm 50rry, y0ur v3ry g00d fr13nd'5 br07h3r'5 numb3r... g33z K4rk47 y0ur 5l1pp1ng. * ) <} He stares at the text confused for a minute until he saw the emoji girlfriend's brother, someone who is being smartass, a one eyed emoji? Karkat gasped. "Will!" He quickly covered his mouth remembering he was in a library.   
 "It's about time you recognized that quirk kiddo." Karkat turned to see Will standing behind him with another guy and a girl. The girl seemed to be somewhere between Karkat and Will's ages, She had medium length reddish-brown hair and she had bright violet eyes which seemed to be sparkling with playfulness. She also couldn't stop smiling. The girl wore a candy red, asian style, sleeveless dress, trimmed in black and had a pair of black ankle high boots. The guy that stood next to her was about Will's age, with short black hair and the same color eyes as the girl they must be related Karkat thought to himself. He wore a black dress shirt which was partially unbuttoned revealing a violet colored shirt underneath, he had on a pair of black jeans and sneakers as well. Before Karkat could pull himself out of his thoughts Will had crossed the room and pull him into a hug. Karkat couldn't help but to chuckle as he hugged back. "I've missed you man. You've been taking good care of my lil sis I hope right?"   
 "Yes sir. Of course I have." Karkat said as he pulled back and smiled.    
 "Well that's good. Cause otherwise I'd have to hurt you." Will said teasingly as he ruffled Karkat's hair making him growl and pull away.   
 "Seriously?!" Kk grumbled as he smoothed his hair again. "You really haven't changed at all."   
 "Aside from this, no." Will said as he pointed to a black patch over his right eye. Karkat raised an eyebrow.   
 "You know I hadn't even noticed that until you mentioned it." He stepped back and took a good look at the older boy. Will stood in front of him, he was a bit taller than Karkat, but of course most people are. The young man had short, medium brown hair with bangs that hung down partly over his eyes, which were teal colored. Will had a black patch over his one eye and there was a visible scar right under it on his cheek. He wore a pair of dark denim jeans and brown boots, Will had a teal shirt under a black button down shirt and wore a black military style coat with a teal collar over it Karkat smiled at him. "You're looking good Will."   
 "Heh heh, thanks."   
 "Has Vat seen you yet?"   
 Will shakes his head. "Not yet. She supposed to meet me and my friends here today. Oh by the way, I want to introduce you to a couple people." Will walks over and puts a hand on the violet eyed young man's shoulder. "This is my army buddy, Vektan and his sister-    
 "Your girlfriend." Vektan said with a smirk.   
 Will nodded, looking slightly annoyed. "My girlfriend, Ana." Karkat snickered and Will glared and pointed at him. "You shut up."   
 "I'm sorry. I can't help it." Karkat looked at Will and his smile immediately fell. Will was glaring at him with a 'I'm going to fucking kill you' expression. Karkat lowered his head. "Sorry." He mumbled quietly.   
 "Hey kid, let's all go outside so we don't disturb the people here. We are still in a library. Can't forget that." Will said as he glanced around the room. Karkat chuckled quietly as he had actually forgotten that fact. Vektan and Ana agreed and soon the four of them were walking out the front doors. Just then there came a loud and familiar female voice.   
 "WILLEN!!" Everyone turned to see Vatria running down the sidewalk at top speed with a large grin on her face. "Oh my god Will I've mithed you!!" She ran up and tackle hugged her brother, knocking both of them onto the grass. Will laughed as much as she did, not caring that they both looked absolutely ridiculous.   
 "Oh god, I've missed you too Vat." He said hugging back tightly. "I've missed you so much." They sat on the ground hugging each other for a good long while before finally Will pulled back and smiled at his sister. "You've grown up a bit since we last talked"   
 "Yeth I did. It'th our latht year in high thchool."   
 "It was your second year when I left right?" Will asked and Vat nodded in reply. "It's weird that I've been gone that long."   
 "I'm proud of you though. Joining the army and all."   
 "Heh, yeah." He looks at the ground and rubs where his eyepatch is. It bothers him from time to time, itching and hurting as it heals. Sometimes the wound will bleed to, like it started to now. He wiped the blood from his eye and looked at it. "Shit..." He pulled out a tissue and wiped the blood away. "I wish that would stop happening."   
 Vektan walked over and knelt beside them. "You okay man?" Will nodded slowly but said nothing. Vatria looked at Vektan confused and concerned and he sighed. "Will's wound is still healing and it will um... bleed a little if it's messed with." He smacks Will's hands making Will pull them away from his eye quickly. "Stop scratching it."   
 "I can't help it, it's itching really bad."    
 "Then don't think about. Your sister is here, focus on that for a while." Vek stands up and pats Will's back as he heads over to his own sister.   
 Vatria watches Vektan walk away then looks at Willen again. "Are you okay bro?" Will looks at her and nods as he forces a smile. She smiles back. "So why did you finally decide to come home from the hospital?"   
 A look of sadness appears on his face. "I heard about Jayson.... and I had to come." Vat raises an eyebrow and tilts her head as she looks at Will as if trying to understand. "It... It was my fault." Will sighs. "Jayson was on his way home from visiting me... when he died."   
  
~~~   
  
 After a while Vatria took Will, Vektan and Ana home but Karkat chose to stay behind at the library. He walked into the library and was going back to the desk he had been at earlier. He was passing by the kids section and glanced in he saw Gamzee and Tavros sitting on the floor playing with a couple kids. He smiled a little and kept walking to the desk. Soon he was sitting down pouring over a bunch of articles about strange disappearances in the Alternian woods. It appeared that back in the early 1900's there was several of them. People would go into the woods to hunt or children would wander off and none of them would ever be seen again. Karkat was mainly looking for unnatural murders and deaths that took place in that area but he couldn't seem to find any. "I know I've fucking seen them before." He growled to himself. "Where are they?"   
 "What are you all up and looking for Karbro?" Came Gamzee's voice from behind him. Karkat looked back slightly startled. Gamzee stood there in faded baggy jeans, gray/white converse sneakers, and a purple/gray polka dotted shirt with a black jacket over the shirt, beside him stood Tavros, a slightly shorter black kid with med. gray pants, brown sandals, a light tan button down shirt and a black jean jacket. Both of them smiled at Karkat.   
 Karkat smiled a little. "Hey Gamzee, Tavros." He looked back at the books and papers on the desk and sighed. "I'm just trying to find some information?"   
 "On what?" Gamzee looks over his shoulder a bit interested.   
 "Um..." Karkat turns and looks at the books and papers again then he sighs. "I can't stop thinking about Jayson dying. I know it's connected to these somehow... but I just can't figure it out. These are just disappearances. But I know that there were deaths too. I just can't find the articles on them."   
 "Oh I know where those motherfuckers all up and are. Hang on bro." Gamzee walks into an isle of books and goes out of sight, after a few minutes he comes back. "This here is what you're lookin' for best friend." Gamzee sets a book down which is a records book dating back to the early 1900's. It lists the deaths of several hundred people during the hundred years between 1900-2014. It also lists where and how they died. Karkat opens the book and starts reading, immediately he sees several cases of where people had been mysteriously impaled on trees.   
 Karkat nodded. "This is exactly what I've been looking for." He picked up a file that was filled with several crime scene photos. "Thanks for this fuckass."   
 "Not a problem Karbro. Well Tav  and I need to get goin'. We'll see you later motherfucker."   
 "Uh, y-yeah... Bye Karkat."   
 "See you later Gamzee, Tavros." Karkat nodded at them as the boys turned and left, he went back to looking through the articles. Kk spent hours going through them, all of the murders were gruesome ones, most of them were the same three styles of killings, the victims were either: Impaled on a tree with their organs taken out, bagged up and put back in their bodies; stabbed to death, or they would be hacked by some sort of axe or hatchett.    
 Karkat sighed quietly as he glanced at a small file sitting on the desk which contained crime scene pictures from each of those murders, he was a bit hesitant about looking at those pictures knowing that he would see the dead bodies. Karkat didn't know if he could handle that or not. But in the end he slowly pulled the file over to him and after taking a deep breath he opened the file up.   
 He grimaced at the pictures as he looked through them, and it didn't take him long to give up and close the file again, feeling like he was going to throw up from the images. "Well, I'm not going to fucking sleep tonight."   
 He didn't realize that Sollux had come into the library to do some research for school, so when he spoke Karkat almost had a heart attack. "I wouldn't be thleeping either after looking at thit like that."   
 "What the hell?!" He spins around then sighs when he sees who it is. "Why the fuck did you do that?!"   
 "What? I jutht walked over here. I didn't mean to thcare you." He looks at folder then looks at Karkat. "What'th going on? Why are you looking at thith thit?"   
 Karkat opened the folder and picks up one of the images of a victim who had been impaled. He holds it up for Sollux to see. "This is how Jayson died." Sollux cringed and had to look away.   
 "I thee." Sollux glanced at the ground and noticed that there was a picture that had fallen from the file. "Tho you think that Jaython wath murdered by... by what?" He bends down and picks the picture up.   
 Karkat puts the picture he had in his hand, back in the folder and shrugs. "I don't fucking know. All these murders are linked to some fucking urban myths. I know that sounds ridiculous but that's all I can think of. Fuck! I'm just grasping at straws right now aren't I?" He rested his elbows on the desk and put his face in his hands, shaking his head at the same time. He didn't notice that Sollux was standing behind him, completely silent, staring in shock at the picture he was holding.   
 "Kk.... um, Kk?" He reached over and tapped Karkat's shoulder after a minute.    
 Karkat turned and looked at him. "What? What's the matter?"   
 "I think you may be on to thomething with the whole urban mythth thit." Sollux hands Karkat the picture, who took it while looking at him a bit confused. "Jutht look at it."   
 Karkat looked at the picture. The picture was a crime scene photo showing the area where one of the murders took place. In the background, barely visible, was a man who was unnaturally tall and thin, he had no face and appeared to be dressed in a black suit. He also had black tentacle looking things comig from his back. "Holy fuck." Karkat muttered as he stared at the picture.    
 "I thought that the whole thlenderman thtory wath jutht a myth." Sollux said as he looked between Karkat and the picture.   
 "Me too." He shook his head and looked around. "Where's Gamzee?!"


	5. CHAPTER FIVE: Don't Hide Your Mistakes

 Brelyn finally convinced Xander to come out of hiding, and on his first day back to school he slowly walked up to the building and stopped at the door. "I don't want to do this Bre."

 "I know you don't. But you need to. You can't keep missing school like this." He nodded slightly to this. Bre sighed and slipped her arm through his. "Come on babe. It'll be fine." He nodded again and they went into the school. Xander sat quietly in the back of every class and if he was asked a question he would just shake his head and stared at the ground, refusing to answer. During lunch he didn't really eat or talk much. Brelyn sat with him, watching him worriedly the whole time. Her brother Simmon sat with them. Xander looked up and noticed her expression and rolled his eyes. He was about to say something to her when Simmon gasped and stood up suddenly, making the other two jump slightly, and stared at the caffeteria entrance, looking a bit frightened. Brelyn looked up at him. "Jesus fuck, what's the matter Simmon?"

 "L-look." He pointed at where he was staring and the other two looked in the same direction. To see Ana Torque entering the caffeteria. "What the hell is she doing here? I-I-Is she following me or something?" He squeaked out the last sentence and ducked behind Xander.

 Xan looked at both of them then up at Ana. "I'm guessing she doesn't like you?" He asked Simmon.

 "N-no she doesn't. she hates me and hurts me every fucking chance she gets."

 "I see."

 Ana looked over and stared at them for a minute, mostly at Brelyn, before smirking and walking over to them. "Hello Brelyn, long time no see."

 "What the hell are you doing here?"

 "I'm staying in town with my boyfriend and my brother. So they're sending me here for the rest of the school year."

 "Oh great." Simmon mumbled quietly from behind Xander, which caused Ana to glance over there.

 "Well, well, well. Simmon Markay. Hiding from me still?" She put a hand on her hip and and gave him an evil smirk. He stood up and looked at her. "Are you still scared of me?"

 He nodded slowly. "Y-yes."

 "Good." She walked around the table and toward Sim, making him back up a bit. She leaned close to his face and whispered. "You should be." She turned and walked away.

 Simmon watched her before returning to his seat and faceplanting on the table. "My life. Is officially. Over."

 "Oh don't worry Sim. She's just trying to get to you."

 "Heh... Well it's working." Sim mumbled, he glanced up at Brelyn then laid his head on the table again.

 Bre reached over and petted his head. "It's going to be okay." He shrugged slightly. "Sim, she's not going to hurt you."

 "Hah! Famous last words." He mumbled again. Simmon closed his eyes and thought back to when he had first met Ana, they were good friends for the longest time. He was a prankster, and she seemed to like that. They would go around tricking and pranking kids almost constantly, spending all day, everyday together working on even better tricks. Until one day, the two of them were supposed to prank a large group of kids at their school, but something went wrong on Sim's end, and Ana ended up getting injured badly because of it. From that point on the girl seemed to make it her life's mission to hurt him, physically and/or verbally every chance she got. Which was the reason, that he and his sister switched schools.

 Now he sat there with his eyes closed, thinking about the past when the school bell rang. "Well, it's time to get back to class." Bre said standing up and looking at her brother. "Come on Sim, let's go." He nodded slowly and followed her and Xander.

 The rest of the day went pretty smoothly, until the end of the day when Sim went to his locker. There was a note on his door that creeped him out. The note read **"Can't run"** Sim growled and pulled it off his locker then ripped it up, glaring down at Ana, who glanced back and frowned.

 "What?!" She asked as she walked toward him. Sim backed up a little then looked at the note.

 "Did you put this on my locker?" He asked holding it out to her. 

 "No, I didn't put anything on your locker." She put it back together in their hands and frowned again. "Well someone has a sick imagination... Well someone besides me." She gives it back to him. "That wasn't my handywork Markay, sorry."

 "Oh..." Sim looked at the torn up note in his hand and frowned as well. "Then if not you, then who did?"

 "I don't know." She turned and started walking away. "See ya later Markay."

 Simmon sighed and tucked the note in his bag as he went out to meet his sister.

 

~~~

 

**_MEANWHILE_ ** For the next few days after Karkat and Sollux's discovery at the library, Kk had been searching for Gamzee, believing that his clown wannabe friend might have been on to something with the whole urban legends shit that he had been going on and on about over the past few months.

 Karkat searched for Gamzee at his house and at their friends houses, but he couldn't find the juggalo anywhere. He finally decided to try Tavros' house. He always tried to avoid the kid, Tav always seemed way too nervous all the time and extremely self conscious. Kk never did understand what Gamzee saw in the boy, but he knew that Tavros Nitram was what kept Gamzee from having another relapse, or mental breakdown again, so he guessed the kid was alright. 

 Karkat now stood at Nitram's front door, pausing for a moment before knocking. It didn't take long for the door to be answered, and the African American kid stood in front of him. "Oh uh, hi Karkat um... W-what are you, uh, doing here...?"

 "Hello Tavros, I was wondering if Gamzee was here? He's gone fucking missing again. I've been looking everywhere for him, but I can't fucking find him.... Anywhere!" Yes Karkat was frustrated, but at Gamzee, not at the kid. Though from the expression on Tavros's face, Karkat thought that maybe Nitram thought it was aimed at him. Kk was about to apologize when Tav spoke up.

 "Um... N-no, I haven't uh.... seen him.... Not since uh, the day after we met you at the uh.... at the library.... I've been worried about him myself."

 "I've gone and tried to fucking call him, but he won't answer his goddamn phone."

 "There is um... one place he might um... be..." Tavros looked up at Karkat and sighed. "But I pray to god he's not."

 

~~~

 

 "Guys, this is really not a good idea!" Sim mumbled as he, Brelyn, and Xander hung outside of the school a couple days after they learned that Ana joined Skaia High.

 "Simmon, if you show her that you aren't scared of her anymore then she will most likely leave you alone."

 "But I am scared of her. Look at me. I'm tiny. She isn't, so of course she scares me!"

 "Well S does have a point." Xander added. "He is smaller than me... If that's possible..."

 "Xan, please don't encourage him."

 "....Sorry."

 Sim looks up and sees a car pull up. Will and Ana get out. "Oh no, she's here.... And she has help."

 "That can't be..." Xander stares at Will for a minute then grins. "That's V's brother Willen."

 Brelyn looked at Xander. "You mean the soldier?"

 "Yep." Xan runs over and smiles. The two talk for a minute, before Xan calls Bre and Sim over. "Hey guys I want you to meet Willen Skygee. W, this is Brelyn and Simmon Markay"

 "Sup guys. Nice to meet you both."

 "Hello." Bre smiles a little and Sim just waves at Will and hides when Ana taunts him from just out of Will's line of sight.

 Will looks at Simmon. "Hello kid, why are you hiding?" Sim just looks from him to Ana then back at him. Will sees who he looked at. "Why are you hiding from her?"

 Brelyn stepped forward. "Let's just say we used to go to school with Ana a couple years ago... And she can be a bitch at times."

 "W-what are you talking about?! I am not!" Ana looks at her, a bit offended.

 Sim scoffs and glares at her. "I'd beg to differ."

 "Why you-" She starts to take a step toward him then catches herself and quickly looks at Will and backs off.

 "I see." says Will as he looks back at Ana. "Is this true? My girlfriend is a bully?"

 "  _ WAS _ a bully...  _ Was _ " Ana said frowning. "I stopped a long time ago."

 "Strange." Sim said, crossing his arms. "You were acting differently yesterday."

 "Oh my god, I was joking you idiot!"

 "It didn't look or sound like joking." Xander said, raising an eyebrow at her.

 "Fine, whatever. Look, I'm not going to hurt Markay anymore, alright? That is over with, and in the past. I'm done with that now." She said with a huff as she pushed past them and walked into the school. Xan and Bre went to do the same.

 Sim sighed and turned to follow when Will grabbed his arm. "Hey kid.... If she does try to bother you. Just let me know." He smiled. "I'll keep her under control."

 Sim smiled back. "Thanks Mr. Skygee."

 He chuckled. "Nah kid, the name's Will." 

 "Oh... Okay then... Thanks Will." Sim smiled then turned and ran into the school. On his way though Sim tripped over some long black object and bumped into a kid with a black hoodie, jeans and bright read converse sneakers. Sim looked up at the kid, who was extremely tall compared to him. "Oh s-sorry!"

 The kid looked at him through a pair of really dark shades. "It's okay kid." He said with a smile. Sim frowned and looked back at the object that he tripped over... but it was gone. He looked toward where the kid was, but discovered, that he was gone as well.

 "What the-" Sim shook his head. "I'm losing my mind..." He mumbled as he ran inside the school. 

 

~~~

 After school that day, Ana walked outside. She saw Will's car and walked toward it. Glancing around though she didn't see him. "He must be talking to his sister." She mumbled to herself as she approached the car. As Ana walked up she noticed a person straighten up and quickly turn their back to her and run off. "Hey!!" She yelled and ran after the guy, though he vanished as soon as he reached a bunch of trees. The guy wore a black hoodie, jeans, and dark shades, she saw a flash of red on his feet. "Asshole." She muttered and walked back over to the car. On the window was a note, she frowned as she picked it up and read it  **"Don't look..... Or he'll take you"** She shuddered and quickly glanced around, feeling like she was being watched. "I don't like this... Not at all..."

 "Don't like what?" Will's voice came from behind her.

 She spun around, hiding the note behind her back. "N-nothing... I dunno, I just felt like I was being watched there for a minute."

 "Yeah, by me." He smirked. then walked around toward the other side of the car. "Come on, let's get home."

 "Yeah..." She shook her head and pulled herself back into reality. "Yeah l-let's go..." she climbed into the car and they headed home.

 As they drove home, Will wondered why she was acting a little skitsy, but when questioned, she refused to answer him about it. Once they arrived, Ana went straight to her room and locked herself inside for the rest of the night.

 

~~~

 "W-well uh... Here... Here it uh.. is..." Tavros Nitram said as he and Karkat Vantas stood outside of a building in a very old, rundown part of Derse. The building itself was made of bricks and looked as if it could collapse at any time, the roof was already caved in, the far left wall had crumbled to the ground. Karkat stood there frowning for a while.

 "And why exactly did you bring me to this god forsaken place?" He asked, glancing at Tavros after a minute.

 "Come, this way." The boy walked around the right side of the building and down into the alley. Kk followed cautiously, wondering why he was being brought down there. After a minute of walking a strange yet slightly familiar smoke smell filled the air around them, though it was stronger than he had ever smelled before. Tavros stopped with a sigh and pointed at a small heap at the corner of the building, smoke was all around the figure but it was obvious as to who it was, from the polka dotted pajama bottoms, black t-shirt and very messy hair.

 "Gamzee Makara!!" Karkat yelled, making the kid jump, Tav didn't really react to Kk's yelling as he expected that reaction when they first arrived. Kar moved toward Gamzee, who looked up at him surprised. "What the fuck are you doing?! I thought you had stopped inhaling this illegal, cancer causing, totally disgusting drug!"

 "Well hello to you too, my motherfuckin' best friend. What are you all up and doin' here?" Gamzee asked, giving Karkat a lazy grin.

 "Looking for you fuckass, and just answer the god damn question." He huffed and crossed his arms. "What are you doing? Or should I ask why Are you doing this?" He sniffs the smoke around him and coughs. "Is that pot?!"

 "Well... Yes. What else is a motherfucker supposed to smoke motherfucker?"

 "Try cigarettes... Or better yet... NOTHING! Now put that out and let's go. I'm taking you home." He turned and started walking away until Gamzee spoke again.

 "They don't work on me anymore Karbro... I... Cigarettes don't help anymore." Gamzee spoke softly, but his tone told Karkat that he was scared. Kk looked back as Gamzee flicked the joint onto the ground and put it out then looked straight up and met Karkat's eyes. "You know what would happen if I go sober bro... I can't let that happen again." Karkat sighed, yeah he knew. He wouldn't ever forget. He looked up as Gamzee stood and walked up to him. "You came to take me home?"

 "Uh, yeah." Karkat replied. Gamzee nodded slowly and walked past him, heading around to the front of the building. Though he stopped when he saw Tavros, who looked disappointedly at him. Gamzee sighed and lowered his head as he continued walking. About an hour later they arrived at Gamzee's house and Karkat walked Gamzee up to the door. As the clown wannabe reached for the doorknob Karkat spoke up "Hey Gamz um... Why... Why did you go back to the drugs?"

 He froze for a second then sighed and looked at Karkat. "Cause of something that I all up and found motherfucker... I guess it scared me enough to need something to calm me down."

 "Like what?"

 Gamz gestured for Kk to follow him and they went up to Gamzee's room. Which was purple, full of clowns, posters of clowns, movies about clowns. Karkat shook his head,  _ This fuckass is gonna end up in an asylum like his brother one day. _ He thought to himself as he took a step into the room. HONK! Karkat jumped and looked at the floor. Oh, and there were horns galore. "Can't you ever clean your room Gamzee?" He complained as he navigated across the room to where Gamzee was standing, though the juggalo didn't seem to be paying attention to his grouchy friend's comments as he was staring at something in his hands, a note it would seem. "What's that?" Kar asked, peeking over his taller friend's shoulder, trying to see what he was reading. Gamzee handed it to him as he sat down and stared at the floor. Karkat read it:  **"Follows"** Was all it said, and it had a drawing of a man and a tree on it. "The fuck is this?!"

 "I don't know. But I wasn't the first one to get a note like that."

 "Well who was?" Karkat set the note down and looked at Gamzee.

 "I think Vat sis was."

 "Vatria?!"

 "Yeah, then me, then... Simmon then Ana I think."

 "What did Vat's say? The same thing?"

 "No. You'll have to ask her, cause I'm not all up and sure. But the weirdest thing, was when she got the note."

 Karkat just stared at him, he made a guess as to when it was, but he didn't want to speak it. "W-when...?"

 "The morning after, Jayson died."

 Karkat's heart almost stopped, as soon as he heard those words. Slowly he  pulled himself out of the shock before nodding and heading for the door, then he stopped and looked back at Gamzee. "Oh, there was something I wanted to tell you... I think you were right about that thing that lives in the woods. Sollux and I found something, that is making us both start to believe it."

 Gamzee smirks slightly. "It's about time bro. But go see your girlfriend, you can tell me about it later. I'll be here... I promise." He reached into a little fridge under his bed and pulled out a grape flavored Faygo then laid back and took a sip. Kk shook his head and ran downstairs. Was there something weird going on? Well, duh of course. Okay, or is this just a stupid prank? Doubtful, but then, Karkat didn't know, not for sure, all he knew was that he had to talk to Vatria. Something happened and she didn't tell him. After everthing that is going and she didn't tell him. Karkat sighed, no he wasn't mad. He was just worried. Could she be next? He didn't want to even think about that, He just knew that he had to get to her... And fast.


	6. CHAPTER SIX: Cause They'll Find You, Burn You

 "Vatria? Vatria we need to talk." Karkat said as he knocked on her front door. It took a minute, but the front door finally opened and Vatria stood in front of him with a paper in her hand.

 "You don't have to explain Kitkat. Gamzee already called and told me." She held out the paper to him. Karkat takes the paper and reads it. It said  **"Help Me"** on it. He shook his head. "Thome one hath a really thick thence of humor." Vatria mumbled, staring at the ground.

 "I'm not so sure..." Karkat muttered quietly, but Vatria still heard it and looked up at him.

 "What do you mean?"

 "Gamzee got one of these too, and according to him, Simmon Markay and Ana Torque both received similar notes." He sighed and read the note again, looking it over front and back, hoping that it would give him some clue as to who wrote it or why. But unfortunately, he couldn't find one.

 "Yeth I know... Gamzee thaid that Ana thaw the perthon who ith delivering thothe noteth. He wath wearing mothtly black and red converthe thneakerth..... Now that I think about it, I think I thaw that guy too. Right before I found that note."

 "So this fuckass is delivering creepy fucking notes to people... For no apparent reason?" Kk shook his head. "That makes no sense."

 "I think he hath a reathon, we jutht don't know what it ith yet." She backed up a little. "Why don't you come in Kitkat, and we can talk thome more about thith... It'th kinda weird having you jutht thtanding at the door like thith." He nodded and walked inside and Vatria closed the door behind him.

 

~~~

 

**(** **_Meanwhile_ ** **during the events of when the strange blue stalker was outside of Brelyn's window)** About two weeks had past since Jayson's death, and Kankri had begun to get back to normal life. Though he still grieved for Jay, he thought it best for himself, but especially for his friends and family, if he tried to act like he usually did. News had finally reached him, through Kk that Will was home from the hospital, so he decided to go visit him. Kanny had left his apartment and was walking toward Will and Vat's house. At one point during his walk, he started feeling like he was being followed, but every time he would look behind him. There was no one there. "I must be paranoid... That has to be it." He said, trying to convince himself of that.

 A half an hour later he finally made it to Will's house, only to discover. That no one was home. Kan facepalmed. "I'm such an idiot. I should have called first." He turned and headed home. "That could have been quite triggering to find someone has just appeared on your door step. Old friend or not."

 Another half hour later Kankri was walking across the parking lot toward his apartment when someone came running by and nearly ran into him. The guy was dressed in a black hoodie, pants and red sneakers and though his face was unable to be seen, there was a faint reddish glow where his eyes were. Kan tried to get a good look at him, but just as soon as he appeared, the guy vanished. "W-what on earth?" Kanny shook his head and walked up to his apartment. But as he reached the front door, he froze. Because there, on his door, was a note. Kankri pulled the note off the door and walked inside so he could read it. The note read **"Leave me alone!"** Kankri stared at it confused. _ Leave me alone? Did I offend someone?Oh dear, I hope not _ He thought to himself. Kan shrugged it off for now and tucked the note away.

  
  


~~~

**(About a week and a half later, after school)** "But Mr. Meowkay come back!" Nepeta Leijon called out as she ran through the halls of their school. Up ahead of her Simmon was running as fast as he possibly could, almost like he was running for his life. Which, whenever the High school's top shipper came chasing after you, yeah, it was like running for your life. Sim scooted around a corner and ran out the main entrance, passing Ana on the way, though he didn't see her. But she saw him. 

 When Nep also came around the corner Ana looked at her. "You looking for Markay?"

 Nep nodded. "Yes I am."

 "He went that way." She pointed out the front doors. Nep smirked and ran outside.

 Sim ran out into the parking lot, he ran between a bunch of parked cars and almost ran in front of a moving car when a pair of hands grabbed him and pulled him back. "Woah Simmon! Watch where you're going." Sim tensed til he looked up to see Will standing there.

 "Oh... It's you."

 "Yeah it's me. What's going on kid? Who are you running from?"

 "I can't explain right now. She'll find me!"

 "Who? Ana?"

 "No. Nepeta, the school's main romance shipper. Everyone runs from her."

 "Hmm..." Will glanced back at the school and saw Nep come out, her bright pink pig tails bouncing as she ran through the parking lot. "Here, get in the car." Will said opening the door to his car. Sim got in and laid down on the floor of the backseat and Will closed the door. He leaned agaisnt the car door and crossed his arms. Just in time for Nep to come up.

 "Hello Mr. Skygee. Have you seen Mr. Meowkay around?"

 "Who?"

 She sighed. "Simmon Markay." She looked annoyed at having to speak with out using her cat puns.

 Will shook his head. "Nope sorry. Haven't seen him."

 "Well if you do. Tell him that I wanna talk to him purrlease. Okay? Bye!" She smiled and ran off. 

 After she was out of sight Will turned and opened the car door. "It's safe, come on out Simmon."

 "Thanks..." Sim mumbled as he climbed out. "She kept talking about me and my friend Rosie... I mean Tearose. Her name is Tearose, I just call her Rosie for short... Actually most people do..." Sim chuckled and shook his head. "But anyway, Nep keeps saying that Rosie and I should start dating..."

 "Well what's wrong with that?" Will asked, leaning against the car and looking at him curiously.

 "B-because! That shit is gross."

 Will frowned. "How old are you?"

 "Sixteen. Why?"

 "Most guys only ever think about girls at your age."

 "Yeah, well I'm not most guys then. Girls are definitely something that I don't think about." Will raise an eyebrow to that answer. Sim noticed and rolled his eyes. "I'm not gay either. I just don't like the idea of relationships. Neither the emotional nor the physical contact interests me. I just like having friends. Rosie understands that. And she's never tried to get me to do otherwise."

 "Well good for you I suppose. Say, I'm going to be taking Vatria and Ana out to lunch. I know you don't really like Ana, but you can come along if you'd like."

 "Oh... Sure I'll come."

 "Awesome!" Will grinned and turned toward the car to get in. Just then Ana and Vat came over to them. "Hey sis." He said to Vatria then gave ana a quick kiss. "Hey Simmon is coming with us to lunch, so behave yourself." He looked straight at Ana as he spoke. She rolled her eyes then nodded. And after a bit of arguing over who would sit where, they all got in the car and left.

 

~~~ 

 About a week after Kankri found the note, news spread across the city that others have also found notes. Vatria, Ana, Simmon, and Gamzee. And that all of the notes appeared at the same time, a mysterious guy in dark clothes and red converse sneakers appeared in the city. Kankri found out about this soon after and decided to talk to Karkat about it. He called Kk and scheduled a time that they could get together. Karkat sounded very annoyed though he fought hard to mask it as he agreed to meet up with his brother.

 The next day Kankri took the note and went to his old home, where Karkat and their parents live. When he got there, Kan was greeted by his parents. He tensed up at first, until his father pulled him into a comforting hug, that's when he relaxed. Surprisingly, his life choices were not brought up at all during this visit. They both knew that now wasn't the time for arguments. About an hour later, they let him go talk to Karkat, who was sitting in his room waiting for Kanny. Kankri knocked on his door and peeked in. "Is it alright if I come in Karkat?"

 "Dude, where, the fuck have you been?!" Karkat asked, jumping up when his brother peeked inside.

 "Karkat, I would appreciate it if you did not use that kind of language around me."

 Karkat rolled his eyes. "Kanny, you have got to be kidding me." He flopped back dramatically on his bed. "You're going to start with you trigger warnings and shit again? Now?" He looked up to see Kankri giving him an annoyed look and Kar sighed. "Fiiiiiiiine. I'm sorry...." He waited til Kankri sat next to him before he sat up again. "Can I see the note?"

 He nodded and pulled it out of his pocket then handed it to Karkat. "I saw him too. That guy in the dark hoodie at everyone keeps going on about. I didn't get a good look at him though, couldn't see his face. His eyes glowed red, if that helps any."

 "It's fine Kan. No one has reall-" Karkat stopped and looked at him again. "Wait... H-his eyes what?"

 "Th-they glowed red... Is that something new?" Kankri asked, looking confused. Karkat nodded.

 "Yes completely new.... Hang on." He pulled out his cell phone and text a message to Vat, Kan got curious and slid over to see what Kk was typing.  **{"HEY VAT, I'VE GOT NEW INFO ON THAT MYSTERIOUS ASSHOLE EVERYONE HAS BEEN SEEING."}** Karkat set his phone down, but less than ten seconds later it dinged with a message from Vatria.

**{"Oh?! Well what i5 it?"}**

 Kk chuckled at how fast she responded.  **{"THE FUCKER'S GOT GLOWING, RED EYES. THAT'S WHY HE WEARS SHADES IN THE DAYTIME. BUT OF COURSE HE CAN'T SEE WEARING THEM IN THE DARK, SO HE HAD TO TAKE THEM OFF."}**

**{"And who 5aw thi5?"}**

**{"... KANKRI."}**

**{"Oh, well hi5 word i5 tru5tworthy. Can't be too careful though, ya know? Well I'll 5end word out to everyone. Thank5 Kitkat. Love you"}**

 Karkat scoffed _Trustworthy? Kankri? Well yeah I guess.He usually just spouts out nonsense about his fucking "triggers" and shit, but he's never lied. So yeah, I guess he is trustworthy... funny that I've never thought about it before..._ **{"OKAY, YOU'RE WELCOME. AND I LOVE YOU TOO."}** Kk put the phone in his pocket and looked at his brother. "Soooo... Um... Is there anything else you can tell me about what happened? Did the guy say anything to you?"

 "No." Kan shook his head. "I just saw him running past me. I thought it creepy, and strange. But just ignored it at the time. Then I found the note. I didn't make the connection between them though... I probably should have... Sorry..."

 "It's fine. It took all of us a while to figure it out. It was only when Will's girlfriend Ana caught the guy putting the note on Will's car, that was when we all made the connection."

 "I wonder why he's delivering notes to certain people? I mean, does this have to do with Jayson's murder? Is he warning us about the killer?"

 Karkat nodded. "Yeah. I honestly think he might be."

 "Or could he be the killer?" Kankri's expression darkened to a look of pure hate. A look that Karkat had never seen before, and it kind of scared him. "If that's the case then he better not let me see him again." He growled.

 Karkat put a hand on his brother's to try to calm him a little. "No Kanny. I don't think he's the killer... I think he's warning us. To be honest. I think-" there was a ding on his phone, but Kar ignored it. "I think he's telling us-" and another ding. Karkat pulled out his phone with a roll of the eye. "I think he's telling us that the murderer is going to strike again..." Kk looked down at his phone and sighed. He received a text message that read:

**{"BrO. BrO BrO BrO."}** then another one  **{"BrO BrO BrO BrO BrO BrO BrO BrO BrO BrO BrO BrO BrO BrO BrO"}**

**{"OH MY GOD GAMZEE! WHAT THE FUCK?! WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU?!"}**

**{"BrO BrO BrO! I'vE GoT SoMeThInG ThAt YoU'lL AlL Up AnD MoThErFuCkInG WaNnA HeAr MoThErFuCkEr. HoNk! :o)"}**

**{"OH GOD GAMZEE. PLEASE TELL ME THAT YOU'RE NOT DOING YOUR WHOLE BYCYCLE HORN/HONKING SHIT AGAIN.  AND I'M GOING TO TAKE A MOTHERFUCKING GUESS AND SAY THAT YOU'RE DRINKING THAT FUCKING FAYGO SHIT AGAIN, RIGHT?"}**

**{"HoNk!!! DaMn RiGhT MoThErFuCkEr. I'm AlL Up AnD SlAmMiNg A MoThErFuCkInG FaYgO AlL Up In HeRe RiGhT NoW. BuT ThAt'S BeSiDeS ThE FuCkInG PoInT."}**

**{"RIGHT. THE POINT... WHAT IS THE POINT, THIS MIRACULOUS POINT, THAT HAS CAUSED YOU TO SO CONVENIENTLY INTERRUPT MY BROTHERLY REUNION WITH KANKRI, AND HAS MADE YOU DECIDE TO USE UP ALL OF MY ALREADY LOW AND FADING CELL PHONE MINUTES TO SAY THINGS LIKE 'BrO BrO BrO' OR 'HoNk!', TO ALL UP AND FUCKING TELL ME?!"}** He read the last line and realized that he sounded like Gamzee himself just then.  **{"GOD DAMMIT!"}**

**{"HoNk! :oD OkAy, SoRrY FoR WaIsTiNg AlL Of YoUr MiNuTeS On My SiLlInEsS HeRe KaRbRo. I WaS JuSt WaNtInG To GeT YoUr AtTeNtIoN So I CoUlD TeLl YoU SoMeThInG... ThE NoTeS, AnD ThE AlTeRnIaN WoOdS SlEnDeRmAn LeGeNd... ThEy'Re CoNnEcTeD! :o("}**

**{"WAIT... WHAT?!?!"}**

 

~~~

 

 "Thanks for driving me home Will." Sim said as he got out of the car and headed toward his house, waving goodbye at his new best friend as he did so.

 "You're welcome Sim. Stay safe okay?" Will replied while sitting in his car waiting for Sim to go inside.

 Sim went up to the door and tried to open it, but the door was locked and his sister wasn't home yet. With a groan he walked back down to the car. "Bre's not home yet, and I'm locked out."

 "Where's your parents?" Will asked, shutting off the car and getting out to walk around to Simmon.

 "They're working." 

 "Isn't there a spare key or something? Or don't you have a key?"

 "My family stopped using a spare key after someone tried to break in a couple weeks ago... And I'm not allowed to have a key, cause I tend to lose things easily..." Sim finished the sentence with a sigh.

 "Well..." Will put an arm around Sim's shoulder and smiled at him. "I'll hang with you til they get home okay?"

 "O-oh... You don't have to, if you don't want to Will..." Sim mumbled.

 "Oh but I do want to." He gave Sim a slight side hug. "You're a fun kid to hang around. And I'll dare say that I think of you as almost like my best friend."

 "But I thought Vektan was your best friend?"

 "He's my army buddy... There's a difference." Will's smile faded slightly as he thought about it. "Are you okay with me thinking of you like that?"

 Sim looked up at him and quickly nodded. "Oh yes, definitely." He grinned. "I have to admit that I think of you like a best friend as well."

 He smiled again. "Good." Will turned and gave him a proper hug, and Sim hugged back, nuzzling him a little.

 "So... Is that why you're always so protective over me?" Sim asked with a chuckle.

 "Oh um... Yeah, yeah I guess it is. Do you mind?"

 "Nope. It's kind of nice." Sim pulled back from the hug and looked up at Will "Most people either just ignore or try to beat me up. But you're different, you actually care about me. So that's cool."

 "I always wanted a little brother like you. I got Vat, which is cool. But a little brother would have been cool."

 "Well, you've got me. I may not be blood related, but I can be a brother if you want."

 Will nodded. "I'd love that Simmon. I really would."

 

~~~

 He sat on the floor of his house, leaning against the couch staring at a knife in his hand. This guy was oblvious to the fact that three others sat in the room with him. Either that, or he just didn't care. He was bored, that was obvious, as he kept tossing the said knife and flipping it in the air for entertainment. After a while he started talking. To himself mainly though he didn't give a fuck if anyone heard him. "I JUST WANTED TO GO OUT TONIGHT...." He growled. "WHY WON'T HE LET US OUT?!"

 "You know why..." said one of the others in the room. He sat curled up on the couch with his black hood on and pulled up over his head. A blue mask laid on his lap, which he stared at for a while. "Seriously, I want to go out too. But we can't."

 "WHY NOT?! BECAUSE  _ HE _ SAID SO?!" He seemed to ignore the knife for a split second second as he glared at the other guy, and in that split second he managed to cut himself. "OW FUCK!" He shook his hand and glared at the knife before picking it up and throwing it at the wall. Surprisingly it hit the bullseye of a target he had spraypainted on there about a month earlier. "HEH... SEEMS I'M THE BEST WHEN I'M IN PAIN... THAT'S FUNNY."

 "No Jeff." Said a boy sitting next to him. "That's just sad." The boy was about fifteen or sixteen, years old. he wore jeans and a tan/brownish jacket and a blue hoodie under it. He wore a pair of yellow goggles type thing which was currently resting on his wavy brown hair. "Seriously dude... Just sad."

 Jeff, as that's what he seems to be called, just rolled his eyes. "WHATEVER KID. GO FUCKING BUG SOMEONE ELSE FOR A WHILE. WHERE'S MASKY?"

 There was a sudden. "Oh shit!" that came from the kitchen and Toby smirked as he jumped up and ran in there. A few seconds later a kid in a tan jacket and white mask came running out of the kitchen and ran upstairs, the other kid was right behind him. "Masky come back! I was just kidding! God you can't even taking a freaking joke?!"

 A moment later Jeff stood up and walked over, and yanked his knife out of the wall. "I CAN'T FUCKING TAKE THIS ANYMORE. I HAVE TO GO OUT. I DON'T CARE WHAT HE SAYS."

 "Jeff no! You can't!" The black hooded guy jumped up and ran over to him. "You can't go out. Okay? I fucked up and so did Slen, and everyone in the city is on high alert."

 "OKAY, I KNOW YOU FUCKED UP, THAT WAS OBVIOUS. BUT HOW DID HE DO IT? HOW DO THE COPS KNOW HE'S RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DEATHS?"

 "The cops don't know. But the guy's family and friends do... Someone is leaving clues for them..."

 "God dammit Toby stop!!" Came a voice from upstairs and suddenly the kid with the yellow goggles cam tumbling down the stairs. and Masky walked down behind him, shaking his head at him. Another kid in an orange hoddie and black mask looking thing w/ a red sad face on it followed Masky down. "The guy you're talking about. I believe is an insider."

 "You know that how?" The black hood guy asked.

 "Isn't it obvious?" Masky replied. "EJ, I'm sure you could've figured it out... People have been receiving strange notes. All of which happened  _ AFTER _ the older Vishbe brother's death. And the notes  _ ALL _ point straight toward Slen. Which means that someone wants us caught."

 "B-but no one believes that we actually exist!" Toby said, as he stood up with the help of the orange hoodie kid. "Thanks Hoodie..."

 "Right! Which means that no one would actually come looking. Unless they were given a push. And it could only be by-"

 "A PERSON WHO KNOWS THAT WE'RE REAL. WHICH WOULD ONLY BE... SOMEONE WHO IS ONE OF US... A PERSON WHO DOESN'T REALLY WANT TO BE HERE."

 "Probably a newbie." Hoodie commented and everyone agreed. "But there are a few... I wonder who it could be."

 "I dunno, but we'll find him... Or her..." Toby mumbled.

 Suddenly there was a voice that everyone could hear in their heads.  **"_IF YOU ALL THINK THAT I'M NOT WATCHING, THEN YOU ARE WRONG. I AM MAKING THESE RULES FOR A REASON JEFFERY. NO ONE IS TO STEP ONE FOOT OUTSIDE OF THIS HOUSE UNTIL I SAY SO. AND AS FOR THE TATTLE TALE. I WILL DEAL WITH HIM PERSONALLY ONCE IT'S ALL OVER._"**

 "...ONCE WHAT IS ALL OVER?" Jeff looked at the others, surprisingly a bit worried for once.

*"_ONCE THE INTRUDERS ARE ALL DEAD. EVERYONE PREPARE YOURSELVES... WE'RE ABOUT TO GET COMPANY._"*


	7. CHAPTER SEVEN: This Is My Last Time

 Footsteps were heard, running, running. His heart pounded in his chest, he could hear them. The screams, the blood curdling screams. He was panting heavily. He needed to stop, he needed to rest, to catch his breath, but he couldn't. Faster, faster! Must go faster! He'll catch you!! Oh god... some one please... Help me! He started coughing, a lot, that seems to keep happening to him right now. Is he still back there?! Oh I don't know! He started to glance back, but something stopped him from doing so.  _.Don't look, or he'll take you_ Fuck!! Just keep running! Just keep running! Run! Run! Can't run God dammit, shut! Up! He stumbled and fell, but scrambled to his feet and kept going, looking all around except behind him.    
 There were trees, endless amounts of trees. He had to find the edge of the woods, only then would he be safe. But he couldn't find the edge- there was a flicker of almost static-y distortion up ahead of him. Shit! There he is! Leave me alone! He made a sharp left turn and ran away, just as the monster appeared behind him again. He looked up ahead of him and saw light off in the distance. Sunlight... The edge of the woods is close by... I... I can make it! He ran faster and faster. The boy put all of his strength and energy into reaching that light. And it seemed to get closer and closer to him. He was almost there. Almost safe.   
 When he reached about thirty feet from the edge of the forest, he glanced behind him, surprised that he couldn't see his pursuer there. Wait, no that's not right... He follows... always... follows. Unknown to this boy, static-y distortion appeared between him and the exit. He looked ahead in time to see the monster appear right in front of him. The monster was an unnaturally tall and skinny man, with a black suit on and no face, weird tentacles came from his back, moving toward the boy as if to grab him. With a gasp he stopped running and quickly started backing up. He began coughing and wheezing really badly and he couldn't catch his breath. Oh god... Oh no.... No no no no no no no no  He turned to run again, but this "slender man" was there too, in fact everywhere he looked this monster was there. The boy dropped to his knees, coughing and gagging, pain seemed to rip through him and his vision became blurry. He began screaming in pain as he could hear the creature's voice in his mind "WHY DO YOU RUN CHILD? THERE IS NO ESCAPE!" He looked up to see light growing from behind the creature and he heard his name being called from that light. "Kitkat?! K-Karkat! Karkat wake up!!"   
 With a small scream Karkat did indeed wake up and he sat up panting, staring around at his surroundings. He was at what appeared to be a park, sitting on the ground under a tree. It took a few minutes for him to realize that there was someone beside him When Kk looked over a very worried Vatria was sitting there. "Kitkat...? A-are you okay? You were crying a-and thcreaming in you thleep..."   
 Kar ran a trembling hand through his hair. "Y-yeah I'm fine... Fuck... How did we get here anyway...?"   
 "You mean you don't remember?" She asked, the worried look didn't seem to fade yet. "We were on our way home from Fith boy'th houthe... He had gotten a note too-"   
 "Oh yeah. The one with all the fucking 'no's all over it..."   
 "That'th the one... Anyway we that here to talk about it for a while and then you fell athleep." She chuckled softly when Karkat groaned and laid back on the grass again.   
 "Oh yeah... I remember now..." He mumbled as he sat up again. Karkat was still freaked out from his nightmare. And after several minutes all he could do was just sit there, staring at the ground. His mind kept going back to what the creature said to him. Kk started wondering if that was just a nightmare... Or a message. He's heard that the Slenderman can control and communicate mentally. So he wondered if that was what just happened. But before he could dwell on it Vatria caught his attention again.   
 "Kitkat... Are you okay? You worried me with that nightmare you were having..." She gave a concerned frown.   
 "Yeah Vat. I'm fine..." He mumbled, avoiding eye contact with her, knowing that she could see right through his lie if he did. Though it was no use, as she saw through it anyway.   
 "Karkat don't you fucking dare lie to me!" She growled, glaring at him. "I'm not thtupid ya know. I can thee that you're not "fine". And I want to help you. Tho what the hell ith going on?!"   
 Kk cringed when she yelled at him, then sighed and looked at the ground. "I'm sorry Vat... I... I'm just still freaked out by the nightmare..."   
 She sighed and calmed down. "What wath it about?"   
 "I was running, in the woods. I was being chased by that fucking slendy thing... I couldn't find the exit to the woods, at least for a while. When I finally did find it I ran toward it but he cut me off and cornered me. I started coughing, and gagging, I couldn't breath... Then he said something about there is no escape or some shit like that... And I started screaming, aaaaand... Then... You woke me up." He shrugged once he was finished talking.   
 Vatria listened quietly, and after he finished she leaned over and hugged him. Vat didn't say anything, she just sat there with her arms wrapped around him. Kk hugged back tightly, he fought back tears the whole time as for some reason, he was still scared. But I shouldn't be scared, I'm awake now... After all... It was just a dream... Right?   
  
  
~~~   
  
 It was earlier that very same day that Xander received his note. He went over to Brelyn's house to see her and knocked on the front door. But instead of her smiling face, he was greeted with Simmon's annoyed one. "Yes?"   
 Xan raised an eyebrow at Sim's reaction. "Uh... Hey S. Where's Bre? I thought she'd be here right now."   
 "Oh she's here..." He sighed and moved away from the door. "Come on in if you dare..." He grumbled and started walking away from the door. Xander frowned and walked inside, closing the door behind him. Simmon led him downstairs to a rather large gym. As they approached the gym Xan could hear the clashing sound of metal and from time to time he could hear the ripping of fabric. "The fuck...?" Xan sped up and jogged into the gym to see Brelyn, in hot pink and purple exercise clothes, battling some kind of practice dummy. She had two dagger like knives in her hand and she was really going at it. Not even realizing that Sim and Xander were in the room. "She's been doing this all day, every day, this whole past two weeks. Ever since that weird guy tried to break in.... But it's driving me nuts cause she won't even stop to do her damn chores!" Sim finished that with a huff then marched out of the room.   
 Xander watched him leave then walked toward her a bit then leaned against the wall. "It would probably be easier if you jab from the right. At least with the angle you're going on." He said with a smirk, causing her to stop and look at him.   
 "Oh hello Xander. I didn't know you were coming over..." She jumped off the platform that she had been on and walked over to him. "What are you doing here?"   
 "It's saturday... We had a date last night... Which I believe you might have forgotten about." He said, with a look of slight disappointment.   
 Brelyn facepalmed as soon as he mentioned the date. "Oh my god, Xander I totally forgot, I am so sorry! But... why didn't you call me?"    
 Xander sighed when she said that. "Should I have to? You've been planning this date for a while now Bre... I thought... Well never mind what I thought... But anyway, I did call you... Five times. But you never answered."   
 "What?!" She walked over and grabbed her phone, and tried to turn it on then groaned. "The battery is dead..." Xander nodded and looked down. She sighed and walked over to him. "Xander... I'm sorry... I really am sorry..." He just nodded again. Brelyn bit her lip and sat down on the side of the platform.   
 It took several minutes before Xander spoke again, and when he did, he totally kept off of the subject of her missing the date. "So.. what are you working on exactly?"   
 Bre looked up at him, then back at the dummy. "I am teaching myself self defense. I've known how to do it for a while but... After that guy trying to break in I think that I need to learn more about it."   
 He nodded. "Well that makes sense. S seems a bit annoyed at it. He said that you aren't doing your chores and shit anymore."   
 "Oh my god is that what he's saying?! I forgot to do one chore. Just one!" She groaned and laid back on the ground. "He's such a little liar..."   
 Xander chuckled and sat next to her. "So... If we were to plan another date wou-"   
 She sat up quickly. "I would not forget it this time I swear!" That made Xander chuckle more.   
 "I'm going to hold you to that."   
 She smirked and walked up to him. "Good." She said before pulling him into a kiss. Xan was surprised by the kiss, but he still smiled and kissed back, enjoying being close to her like that.    
 But that enjoyment was soon ended when they heard Simmon's voice coming from the doorway. "Ew! You guys are gross!"   
 Brelyn pulled back and glared at her brother who was peeking in the door at them. "Simmon what the hell?!"   
 "S-sorry sis... I didn't mean to come in at that moment but... I just got off the phone with mom and dad. Their plane is arriving earlier than they expected and they want to take you and me out for lunch."   
 "That's 'you and I' Simmon, but okay, thanks bro..." She sighed and looked at Xander. "I think we're going to have to cut this short." Xan sighed but nodded. Bre gave him a quick kiss. "I love you... and I'll call you when I get home okay?"    
 "Yeah sure thing Bre. I love you too." He kissed back then headed home. Xan couldn't deny that he was disappointed that he had to go so soon. As he walked home he was thinking, for as long as he's known her, Bre and Sim's parents have never been home. There was a caretaker that would stop by and check on them from time to time. But the parents seemed to always travel. He wondered why they suddenly decided to stop in themselves. Maybe it's for the same reason that Bre is practicing her self defense. Someone tried to hurt her, and they want to make sure that their kids are well protected He shrugged and kept walking.   
 He was about three quarters of the way home when Xan started feeling like he was being followed, though every time he looked around, there would be no one or nothing there. He also noticed that all around him seemed to get a little darker, almost as if the shadows where moving closer to him. He became paranoid as everything around him appeared to be closing in on him, so he began to walk faster, then jog, then sprint, and soon he was in a full fledge run, trying to get home. Xander was about a block away when he turned a corner and ran right into something, or rather, someone, which made him fall onto the ground. He shook his head then looked up at who he ran into. The guy in the black hood was standing there with a smirk on his face. "Are you okay? You look a bit... scared."   
 "I'm... I'm not scared..." Xan mumbled as he stood up.   
 "Oh no... Of course not." His smirk grew. "You're a brave young man aren't you? ....Xander."   
 Xander looked more confused than scared now. "I........ I'm sorry, do I know you?"   
 "No. But I know you."   
 "How?"   
 "Heh heh... My secret." He said pulling his shades down slightly and flashing Xan a quick wink. His eyes were also revealed at that moment to be a bright, almost glowing, red.   
 Xander frowned even more. "Dude... The fuck is wrong with your eyes?"   
 His smile faded. "None of your business." He stared at the ground for a minute then suddenly shoved a piece of paper against Xander's chest. "You're fucking welcome." He growled then as Xan looked down at the note. The black hoodie guy and all of the darkness and shadows vanished.   
 "What does this mean?! All it says has is a bunch of freaking 'NO's all over it..." He looked up to see that the guy was gone. "Hello? Where'd you go?!" He looked all around and when he couldn't see the guy, Xander took off running, he didn't stop til was in house, or more like, in his bedroom with all of the windows and doors locked. Then he pulled his cell phone out and called Karkat.   
 {"Hey Xander, what's up?"}   
 {"Dude I... I got a note."}   
 Then phone was silent for a while, then Karkat's voice came back on. {"You did? What does it say?"}   
 {"It just has a bunch of 'NO's on it. But that's not all... I saw the guy, the black hooded guy... He actually talked to me and instead of leaving the note somewhere and being seen running off. He literally gave me the note... I-i-is that good or bad...? Hello? Hello?! K? K-Karkat?!"}   
 There was silence on the other end for several minutes, before Karkat's voice was heard again, this time it was quieter than anyone had ever heard before. {"Xander.... We're on our way."} After that the phone clicked as the call ended.   
  
~~~   
  
 Later that evening Brelyn and Simmon had come home from being with their parents. Sim was tired so he went straight up to bed. Bre however went into the kitchen to grab a snack. It was just getting dark at this point and she walked to the sliding glass door and peeked outside. In the distance she could see a dark hooded figure coming toward her house, cutting through peoples' back yards as he did so. "You're back for more are you?" She mumbled and quickly opened the back door. She called her dog, who came obedientally and she sent it out into the living room. Then Bre grabbed her butcher knife and turned out the lights. She hid out of sight and next to the light switch and waited for his arrival.   
 Soon enough he arrived. finding the back door unlocked he opened it and snuck inside. Hungry... I'm so hungry... Where is she? I can smell her... He walked deeper into the kitchen and stopped in front of the hallway entrance, where she was hiding. He made the wrong move of turning his back to the entrance, cause right then she took the opportunity to flip the lights on, which blinded him, then run up, pull his knife out of his pocket, then put her knife to his throat.   
 "Looking for me?!" She growled in his ear, pressing the knife close against his throat. "If you value your life, you had better start talking... Who are you?!" He refused to speak. She couldn't tell if he was scared or not cause of his blue mask. but... Oh hey, at least she could now tell that it WAS a mask. "Well now... I wonder what's behind this mask?" She mumbled as she reached her other hand up and grabbed for the elastic, that kept the mask on.   
 "D-don't..." He muttered, tilting his head away from her slightly. "Just... Don't..."   
 She raised an eyebrow. "Oh so it does talk." She smirked and reached for the mask again, not really paying attention to what his hands were doing. Which was a mistake. Because once she was distracted, he quickly grabbed her other arm and pushed it and the knife away from his throat, then spun around to where her arm was now behind her back. He disarmed her then pushed her against the wall and pointed the knife at her chest.   
 "You shouldn't try to take me on and expect to live." He snapped.   
 "W-who are you? ....What are you?!" She asked, staring more at the knife than at him.   
 "Oh me? My name is Jack... Eyeless Jack." He gestured to the black eyeless holes in his mask. "And what I am... Is hungry!" He ran the knife down toward her stomach. "I wonder how your kidneys taste...?" He mumbled aloud. Her eyes widened as she looked at him, then at the knife, then back at him again and her whole demeanor changed, from angry and determined to get answers, to terrified and helpless. She knew that any move she made could be her last.   
 "No... Please... Don't kill me..." She whispered as she couldn't make herself speak any louder. Bre pressed herself as close to the wall as possible to put as much space between her and the knife as possible, though it was only half an inch.   
 "Oh I don't have to kill you... I usually don't kill my victims." He mumbled, then he leaned in and whispered in her ear, pressing the knife hard against her stomach. "Though it will hurt so much more if you're at least awake for this. So killing you would be the... Kindest thing." There was a hint of a smirk in his voice   
 Brelyn closed her eyes and started trembling, oh she was so scared right now. She didn't want to die, nor did she want to be ripped open by this monster. But suddenly defensive mode kicked in and in a flash she moved her hands up and grabbed his hand with the knife and pushed his arm back toward him, then brought her leg up and kneed him in the crotch causing him to double over in pain, then she shoved him away from her as she yelled at him. "You. Will not. Kill. Me!!" He stumbled back and hit the ground, dropping the knife in the process. Bre grabbed the knife off the ground and pointed it at him. "I won't go down without a fight."   
 He slid back away from her, then looked up at her for a minute. "I'm just... S-so... Hungry..." And with that he scrambled to his feet and ran toward the back door. This time Brelyn chased after him, following him through the backyards and out into the street behind the houses. Eyeless ran rather fast, but she was able to keep up, or she did for a while. They soon reached near the edge of the woods, the part of the woods that bordered her side of town, but when they did she suddenly began coughing. Coughing and wheezing almost non-stop. Eyeless froze when he heard this happening and he turned around to look at her. He surprised her by walking toward her slowly and cautiously. "Coughing...? Wheezing...?" Just then she dropped to her knees, coughing louder and a whole lot more. "A-and that... Oh shit he's nearby...!" He looked around nervously.   
 She looked up at him and managed to speak between coughs. "Wh-who's nearb-by...?"   
 He looked down at Brelyn and quickly reached down and grabbed her arms and pulled her to her feet. "You need to go... Now! You need to run!"   
 "W-what?! Why?! No I want answers! You just tried to kill me and now you're telling me to run?!" She stared at him in confusion pulling her arm away and not moving from where she was.   
 "Look, the person who's coming, is way more terrifying than me, and if you meet him, you'd wish that I had killed you okay? He tortures his victims. Now go!!"   
 She stared at him for a moment, then backed away. "You had better stay away from my house! The next time you won't get away so easily!" She then turned and ran, her coughing getting less and less as she did. But there was a static-y flicker behind her and she turned back to see what was going on. She froze in place as she saw it. There was a man, unnaturally tall and skinny, with a black suit on and no face, and weird tentacles came from his back. He was standing in front of Eyeless Jack staring down at him. She couldn't hear what the man was saying, but Eyeless seemed terrified of him.   
 ....... "W-what?! No! I'm not the traitor! I-I thought you knew-" ....... "What do you mean you were wrong?! I'm not the traitor, Slendy!!" ....... "N-no! I'm only out here cause I need to eat!! You guys don't have food for me at home! I have to eat somehow!" ....... "L-look I'm... I'm sorry!!" The man, undoubtedly known as Slendy, used a tentacle and wrapped around Eyeless's neck then lifted him up to where they were eye level... That is if either of them even had eyes. Slendy stared at him for a long time until suddenly Jack gasped and started kicking and squirming. "Y-you're gonna w-what?!?! No! No don't!!"    
 Brelyn, who had been hiding and watching the whole time, pulled out her cell phone and quickly took a picture of the Slenderman. She stared at him for a moment, scared half to death of this creature, she doubted anyone could survive an encounter with him, unless he allowed it. But as soon as the picture was taken, he must have sensed it because he turned his head and looked directly at her. She gasped and hid again hoping he'd go away, but he didn't. The Slenderman moved closer to her, causing her to start coughing and wheezing again. Then she heard him, his voice, he was in her head. "I KNOW YOU ARE HERE. BUT I SHALL NOT HARM YOU THIS TIME." He went silent for a moment then suddenly a static flicker appeared and he was standing in front of her, towering over the terrified girl.  *"BUT INSTEAD I WANT YOU TO DELIVER A MESSAGE."* "W-what m-message...?" She asked, trembling as one of his tentacles reached down and wrapped itself around her, then lifted her off the ground and pulled her closer to him. "WHAT IS IN YOUR HAND RIGHT NOW?" She looked down and in her hand was her cell phone. "Y-you mean the picture... The p-p-picture is th-the message?" There was silence for a moment, but when he spoke again there was a hint of a smirk in his voice. "YOU ARE A SMART ONE. IT WOULD BE A SHAME TO KILL YOU... IN THE END... MAYBE I WON'T..." He set her down and stepped back. "W-wait! Who's the message for?" _"IT IS FOR WHOEVER THE MOST LEADER-LIKE PERSON YOU KNOW."_ She thought for a minute then realized who he meant. "You mean Karkat?" _"AH YES, KARKAT VANTAS. HE YELLS A LOT BUT HE'S GOT A GOOD HEART, UGH, I DESPISE THAT! BUT YES, IT'S FOR HIM. OH,  AND TELL HIM THIS AS WELL... 'I AM ALWAYS WATCHING, AND WHEN HE'S READY... I'LL BE WAITING.'"_ Brelyn glanced down at her phone, then she looked up again, confused by his spoken message to Karkat. "Wait what does that.......mean...?" When Bre looked up she saw that he and Eyeless were both gone. "Oh dear god...." She whispered to herself. "What has Karkat done...?"


	8. CHAPTER EIGHT: She Said, As She Faded Away

 The next morning Brelyn went and spoke with Karkat, she told him about what had happened and delivered the message. Karkat stared at the picture, frowning deeply. "That bastard wants a fight... Doesn't he?"   
 "It thure thoundth like it Kitkat." Vatria said nodding slightly. She was sitting on the counter in his kitchen, kinda hanging in the background. She sat there quietly for a minute then looked at him worriedly. "You're not going to give him one... Are you?" He didn't answer her as he continued to stare at the picture, a look of anger, hatred and fear crossed his face. "Karkat...? Karkat?!"   
 He jumped slightly and looked at her. "Huh? What?"   
 She sighed. "You're not going to go up againtht him are you?"   
 He shrugged. "I doubt it..." He mumbled. Though secretly he was considering it.   
 "You better not." She mumbled, frowning a bit at him. Vatria could tell that he wasn't exactly being truthful with her.   
 Brelyn sighed and looked around. "Hey, is Xander coming by today?"   
 "I hope not." Vat grumbled and Karkat rolled his eyes.   
 "Vat stop it. We all know that you don't like him." She huffed and leaned back against the wall. Karkat went back to looking at the picture. After a few minutes he looked up at Bre and studied her quietly. Before finally speaking. "I'm really surprised that he let you go Brelyn. Slender has never done that to anyone before."   
 "I already told you... He wanted me to deliver the message to you. He couldn't do that himself for, well... Obvious reasons. So undoubtedly I was the messenger. It was a spur of the moment thing. I don't think it was intentional honestly. I just happened to be there, so he decided to use me. It was Eyeless' fault really. If he hadn't snuck out to try to attack me, then Slender wouldn't have had to go out looking for him."   
 Vatria chuckled. "It'th altho your fault for chathing after him."   
 "What?" She crossed her arms. "I wanted to make sure he learned the lesson, to leave me alone. Which I believe he did."   
 "You are a bit on the dangerouth thide thometimeth, ya know that?"   
 "It's called defending myself Vatria." Brelyn frowned at her. "You don't understand. You're not the one who had an insane cannibal trying to kill and them. That wasn't you. That was me. And desperate times calls for desperate measures!" She huffed after she finished. Bre didn't realized that she was actually yelling at the end... At least not until Karkat spoke up.   
 "Bre we understand... Vat wasn't trying to make you mad... You don't have to yell..."   
 "I'm not yelling!!" She stopped as soon as she heard herself and Bre sighed. "I-I'm sorry guys I've just... I've had a rough day.... I should go home now..."   
 "O-of course..." Karkat walked up and patted her shoulder. "We'll talk to you later."   
 "Okay... And Vatria, I.... I didn't really mean to.... to yell... I'm sorry." Brelyn shook her head at herself and went home. The stress was getting to her. Her boyfriend's brother's death, these mysterious notes appearing everywhere, Eyeless showing up every so often and well.... And of course Slender. He was the most stressful thing in the world to her. Bre just, she just needed some rest. She was sure everything would be fine again soon enough. But god damn, she couldn't be more farther from the truth.   
  
~~~   
  
 "But... But Sooooool...!"   
 "Eridan! I am not kidding. Leave. Me. The fuck. Alone!!"   
 "Are you still mad ov-ver the failed magic trick? Cause, I'v-ve apologized ov-ver and ov-ver again for that... W-what more do you w-want?!"   
 "How about for you to jutht dithappear?!"   
 Eridan stood there blinking as he processed what Sollux said. "You really don't like me... Do you?"   
 "Bravo Ampora, it'th taken you yearth to figure that out. But congratulationth. You're finally learning thomething." He shook his head and started walking away.   
 "B-but... I... I thought w-we w-were friends..."   
 "Nope..." He stopped and looked at him "Okay, I tried... I tried to think of you, ath a friend... But... That... Didn't work out."   
 Eridan opened his mouth to speak then closed it again. They had been getting along for a while now, ED thought that there was hope for Sollux to like him finally, but now, all his hopes for that were being crushed. He swallowed hard as he fought back tears then he just turned and walked away. A girl with bright fuchsia eyes and wearing a tank top and blue/lime green skirt watched Eridan walk away then she went over to Sollux. "He likes you, ya know?"   
 "Yeah, he keeps trying to be my friend... Of course he likes me."   
 "No Sollux... He 'likes you' likes you." Sol froze and frowned when she said that. "I can see it, you both stare at each other when the other isn't looking... Why can't you just admit that you like him too."   
 "FF, anyone who would like ED must be out of their mind..." She raised and eyebrow, tilted her head and smirked at him, with a look that said 'and you're not?'. Sollux rolled his eyes and huffed. "I don't like him FF."   
 "Yes you do. And you can't run from it forever Sollux." She giggled. "You know, it's funny, half the school ships you two. We're all just wondering how long and what it'll take for you both to admit it."   
 "Feferi." Sol walked over and sighed. "I will die before I 'admit' anything of the sort."   
  
~~~   
  
 After Bre left Karkat looked at Vat and sighed, then went toward his room. He was frowning as he went to his closet and started looking for something. Vat followed him and leaned against the bedroom door. "What are you looking for Kitkat?"   
 "Um... Noth-nothing..." He shrugged and sighed, closing the doors and looked at her. "I can't find it anyway." That wasn't exactly true however. He had found exactly what he was looking for, Kk just left them alone til she was out of the room.   
 Vatria gave him a 'yeah right' look. "I'm not thtupid Karkat."   
 "Of course you're not. I would never fucking think you are."   
 "Good..." She decided not to push the issue. Vat could tell that he was up to something that he didn't want to talk about, so, even though she could easily guess what it was, she didn't talk about it as she didn't want to make him mad. Karkat would either clam up completely or start yelling his head off at her over it, neither would be good responses right now.   
 Karkat sighed and looked around before finally speaking again. "You know I'm going to eventually go after him right?"   
 She nodded. "Of courthe. But you thouldn't it alone."   
 "I have to... I will not ask anyone to help me. Nor will I fucking allow it."   
 "You can't thtop uth from coming Kitkat."   
 "If I have to I will." He walked over and put a hand on her cheek. "You and everyone else are way too fucking important to me. Hell, he already took Jay from us, I fucking refuse to let him take anyone else from me... Especially not you."   
 She smiled and blushed a little. "You're too thweet Kitkat... I love you."   
 "Love you too." He said with a smile. Blushing at her compliment.   
  
~~~   
  
 This is going to be so, um, hard... Oh... C-can I even do it...? Tavros thought to himself as he walked up to Gamzee's home. He and the clown had been best friends since first grade, but now, well for Tavros at least, his feeling toward Makara have taken more of a romantic turn, though until today he has never told anyone about them... Hell, he might not even be able to tell him now. The boy did his best to gather as much courage as he could muster, which honestly wasn't much, and he walked up to the door and knocked, then waited impatiently for Gamzee to answer. Young Nitram began panicking about what to say and decided to try to leave. However, to his dismay, Gamzee answered the door before he could escape. "Why look at that, it's my best motherfuckin' bro! C'mon in Tavbro."   
 "Uh... U-um... Okay..." He smiled awkwardly and went inside. Gamz noticed the awkwardness and frowned.   
 "You okay there lil Motherfucker?" He asked conceredly. Tavros merely nodded in response then looked around the house. Gamzee's house was pretty messed up things were always everywhere. And god... That family loved clowns, and the color purple, both of which were all over the house. Gamzee's family had a history of insanity, in fact, his brother and father both were in an asylum because of that fact. Gamz had been living on his own, using his family's wealth to survive the past two years alone. But he never seemed to mind, though he really loved to have company. Tavros often wondered if Gamzee was a bit insane himself. There was one thing where he's heard people talk about not letting Gamzee go sober, that it could be dangerous. Tavros had never actually known what they meant though, nor did he want to. Tav sighed while thinking about it What on earth am I uh... g-getting myself into...? Tav's thoughts were interrupted however, when he felt a tap on his shoulder and looked up to see Gamzee holding out a bottle of faygo. "Want some wicked faygo motherfucker?"   
 "O-oh um... Sure I guess... Th-thanks uh, Gamzee..." He stammered as he accepted the drink and smiled. He took a sip before looking at his friend. "Um... H-hey Gamzee...?"   
 "Yeah bro?"   
 "Th-there's um... There's something that I uh... want t-to talk to you about... um..."   
 "Well what is all up and about?" He frowned a little. "I didn't do somethin' wrong did I?"   
 "Oh no... No it's not that at all.. I just uh... I don't know how to um... How to say it..." He looked down and blushed. Gamzee grabbed his hand and led him over to the couch and sat down then pulled Tav down next to him and looked at him, completely seriously. Something important was on his Tavbros's mind and he was going to be quiet and respectful and listen closely to what it was.   
 "Go ahead Tavros, tell me what's all up and on your mind." He said, his piercing purple eyes staring right into Tav's bright golden ones, Nitram stared back for a minute, getting lost in his eyes and almost forgetting what he was going to say, that is if he knew exactly what he was about to say in the first place Wow... Now I remember why I like him so much... He's just... a-amazing... He ended up not really verbally telling him about his feeling but instead Tav suddenly leaned up and kissed him, surprising both of them by his actions.   
 For all of Tavros's worrying and stalling, and being afraid of Gamzee rejecting him, all of that was put aside and never thought of again as Tav heard a soft chuckle from Gamzee and felt him kiss back. The taller boy pulled Nitram close and kept kissing him for a while before pulling away and looking at him, smiling and panting softly. "I didn't know you all up and felt that way about me Tavbro."   
 Tav smiled back. "I-I um... I have for a while um... But um, I uh, I just didn't have the courage to uh... say... Y-you're not mad um, are you..?"   
 "Hell no motherfucker. This is the best goddamn news I've heard in a long time. It's kinda funny though, cause every motherfucker out there thought we was already all up and together."   
 "Heh heh.. Wait... Really...?"   
 "Yup. Won't Nepsis have fun with this one."   
 "Oh boy.. C-can we like um... Not tell her...?"   
 Gamzee chuckled. "Nah, I guess not."   
  
  
~~~   
  
 Jeff walked by Slender's room when he heard a couple voices speaking from inside. He stopped and listened, frowning as one voice he obviously recognized as Slender's but the other he didn't recognize at all.   
 "YOU HAVE REALLY DONE IT THIS TIME SLEN." Said the unrecognizable voice. "HOW DO YOU EXPECT TO GET OUT OF THIS?"   
 "WHAT? I JUST HAVE TO KILL THEM WHEN THEY ARRIVE. IT'LL BE FINE. YOU WORRY TOO MUCH BROTHER."   
 Jeff gasped. BROTHER? SLENDER HAS A BROTHER?!   
 "YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND THOUGH, IF THOSE PEOPLE DISAPPEAR, THE POLICE WILL BEGIN TO WONDER, THEY'LL COME LOOKING FOR WHOEVER TOOK THEM. WHO DO YOU EXPECT THAT THEY'LL FIND? THEY WILL FIND YOU."   
 "NO ONE CAN FIND THIS PLACE UNLESS I LET THEM. DO NOT FORGET THAT."    
 His brother sighed. "I SUPPOSE YOU'RE RIGHT. BUT EVEN SO. WHEN THEY DO SHOW UP, CAN YOU PROMISE THAT NO ONE IN THIS HOUSE HOLD WILL BE HURT. THOSE KIDS WHO ARE COMING ARE SEEKING REVENGE."   
 "OF COURSE. NO ONE HERE WILL BE HARMED."   
 "LET'S MAKE A DEAL ABOUT IT THEN." The brother said, a hint of a smirk in his voice. "IF ANYONE IN THIS HOUSEHOLD IS HARMED, THAT INCLUDES DEATH OBVIOUSLY, THEN YOU WILL GIVE UP EVERYTHING TO ME."   
 "YOU STILL WANT IT ALL DON'T YOU? YOU WANT THE HOUSE, MY SOUL, MY POSITION, EVERYTHING!"   
 "WELL OF COURSE, BUT THEN, IF YOU'RE SO CONFIDENT THAT YOU'VE EVERYTHING UNDER CONTROL, AND THAT NOTHING BAD WILL HAPPEN... THEN WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO LOSE?"   
 There was silence for a long while before Slenderman replied. _ "FINE.... IT'S A DEAL." _   
  
~~~   
  
 The dark hooded guy sat outside of Slender's mansion, staring up at the sky. He had given every one the notes he had, he wished he could do more. He wished he could protect all of them, but he could only save some. He didn't notice that two people had come up and sat beside him til he heard Eyeless's soft voice. "I know it's you Shadow." The hooded guy, undoubtedly called Shadow, jumped slightly, startled then looked at him and sighed.   
 "What are you talking about?"   
 "You're the tattle tale. Both Masky here and I have seen you sneaking out from time to time." Only then did he realized that Masky was sitting on the other side of him.   
 He looked at them confused. "I have no idea what you're talking about."   
 Masky pulled off his mask and looked at him with narrowed eyes, as if sizing him up. "Really? You think we're idiots?"   
 He sighed. "Fine, maybe I am the culprit. What are you two going to do about it? Tell the Slenderman? Go ahead. I don't care if I get punished for what I did, I'd do it again in a heart beat."   
 "Why risk it though? What can you possibly gain from risking your life to save these.... People..." Masky said with a frown. "The only one who gets away with that is Jane. No one else."   
 "Yeah, you certainly won't get away with it Shadow." EJ added.   
 "Do you even know how I came here? O-or why?" Shadow asked quietly, the other two glanced at each other then back at him, but stayed silent.   
 "I never wanted to be here, I never wanted to be one of you. But I had no choice. My family, they're all gone. Thanks to the Slenderman. He wanted me, for my powers, so he took me, and destroyed them when they tried to stop him... I swore that day that I would not let him use me, and that I would keep him from hurting anyone else. Never again will he devastate another family as long as I'm alive." Both boys stared at him in shock, they knew Slendy was evil but... That was quite the surprise. "So go ahead, tell him if you want to... I won't run, nor will I cower to the freak."   
 After a long moment of silence EJ stood up and looked down at him. "I will not tell him."   
 "Nor will I." Masky added as he too stood.   
 "But be careful, even if you're willing to die to protect the world from Slen... You might not like how it happens." He sighed and turned to go back in, but just then the door burst open and Jeff came running out, looking a bit excited.   
"HEY FUCKERS, YOU'LL NEVER BELIEVE WHAT I JUST FOUND OUT!"


	9. CHAPTER 9: It's Hard to Imagine

 "Wait, he has a what now?!" Masky asked, looking shocked at Jeff's news, in fact, they all were.   
 Jeff nodded. "YOU HEARD ME. HE'S GOT A FUCKING BROTHER! AND EVEN THOUGH THEY WEREN'T CONCEALING THE CONVERSATION AND I COULD HEAR WHAT SLENDY WAS SAYING, HIS BRO SEEMED TO BE SPEAKING NORMALLY, LIKE HE HAS A MOUTH. WHICH WAS WEIRD."   
 "Heh..." Shadow stood up. "Well maybe Slenderman was just born that way, maybe his family ain't monsters after all."   
 Eyeless shrugged. "No clue. But damn, things have just gotten quite a bit interesting around here."   
 "YEAH, JUST WHAT WE NEED, ANOTHER MYSTERY. THERE'S ONLY ONE THING I WANT TO KNOW..."   
 "What's that?"   
 "WHAT EXACTLY DID HIS BROTHER MEAN BY 'MAKING A DEAL'?"   
 Shadow tensed up and a soft gasp was heard. "W-what do you mean?" It can't be...the Dealmaker...   
  
~~~   
  
 Willen laid there asleep, tossing and turning throughout the night. As a matter of fact, over the past few nights he had been having difficulty sleeping. Every night he was plagued with nightmares, and each of those nightmares were scenes of everyone he knew and cared about, being murdered in front of him. He figured that it must have been because he had learned that his sister and girlfriend were planning on teaming up with Karkat to take down the Slenderman, and even though he begged them not to do it, they refused to listen. But tonight however, this dream was different, it felt more real, more of a warning than just a nightmare. The target in these dreams was little Simmon Markay. At one point in the dreams he suddenly heard a voice, a soft, relaxing voice, however, for some reason, he was instantly put on guard when he heard it, at first he thought it was someone in his room, but as he tried to wake up, he discovered that he couldn't, and that everything around him was turning into blackness, never ending darkness, like some kind of abyss, it made him afraid. He had never felt fear before in his life like he was feeling now. And that was when he realized that the voice was speaking to him again, he sounded closer, like he was right in front of him.   
 "YOU HAVE NOT BEEN SLEEPING WELL WILLEN SKYGEE. I HAVE NOTICED. THOSE NIGHTMARES ARE REALLY GETTING TO YOU."   
 "W-who are you?!" He asked, trying to back away, he really couldn't tell if he had moved at all, everything seemed to remain the same, it felt like he was floating on complete nothingness. "Where am I? What do you want from me?!"   
 "JEEZ, CALM DOWN, ONE QUESTION AT A TIME. FOR AN ARMY VET I'D FIGURE THAT YOU'VE BEEN IN MANY MORE STRESSFUL SITUATIONS LIKE THIS. HELL, YOU ALMOST DIED YET YOU HELD IT TOGETHER... WHY PANIC NOW?" He chuckled when there was no reply. "FINE THEN, I'LL ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS. FIRST OF ALL, I AM KNOWN AS THE DEALMAKER, OR DREAMLORD... I HAVE AN ACTUAL NAME, BUT I NEVER GIVE THAT OUT. AS FOR WHERE YOU ARE, WELL, I SUPPOSE YOU CAN SAY THAT YOU'RE STILL IN THE NIGHTMARE, THE ONE I CREATED FOR YOU. I THOUGHT THAT I'D BE KIND AND LET YOU HAVE A LITTLE TASTE OF WHAT CAN HAPPEN IF THOSE BRATS GO HUNTING DOWN SLENDERMAN... MOST OF THEM ARE JUST POSSIBILITIES, HOWEVER, THE LAST ONE, THAT LITTLE BOY, HIS DOOM IS CERTAIN." He paused for a minute before continuing. "AN ASSOCIATE OF MINE GAVE HIM A NOTE, ONE THAT WAS MADE BY ME TO PROTECT CERTAIN PEOPLE FROM THE SLENDERMAN, HOWEVER THE BOY TORE IT UP, BREAKING THE PROTECTION OVER HIM. HE DIDN'T KNOW POOR THING."   
 "Why would you want to protect Sim? Or any of them for that matter?"   
 "HAHAHA... I HAVE MY REASONS. LET'S JUST SAY THAT I STAND TO GAIN FROM SLENDER'S DOWNFALL, AND I WILL HELP ALL I CAN TO MAKE SURE THAT IT HAPPENS. SADLY THAT INCLUDES HELPING AT LEAST SOME OF YOUR PEOPLE ESCAPE. I ALSO KNOW FOR A FACT THAT YOU WON'T BE SO LUCKY... BUT I'M WILLING TO HELP YOU CHANGE THAT FATE."   
 "H-how?" He asked, looking a bit suspicious of this unseen demon.   
 "IF YOU MAKE A DEAL WITH ME, I CAN ASSURE THAT BOTH YOU AND THE BOY WILL MAKE IT OUT ALIVE... AND YOU HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR ABOUT YOUR SISTER OR GIRLFRIEND EITHER, THEY RECEIVED NOTES, THEY'RE PROTECTED. BUT YOU ARE NOT. AT THE MOMENT, THAT IS. ALL I ASK IS A LITTLE.... FAVOR, IN RETURN."   
 "Favor? Like what?"   
 "I WANT YOUR SOUL, BASICALLY... IT WON'T BE ALL THE TIME, BUT YOU WILL WANT TO STICK CLOSE TO THE BOY AND DOING THIS WOULD ACHEIVE THAT GOAL QUITE EASILY."   
 He shook his head. "No. I would never give up my soul. That would be worse than dying."   
 He sighed and smirked in the darkness. "SO BE IT. YOU BETTER START SAYING YOUR GOOD BYES THEN, ESPECIALLY TO THE BOY, DEAR ME, TO SEE SUCH INNOCENCE PERISH LIKE THAT IS HEARTBREAKING... OH WELL, SEE YOU AROUND."   
 "W-w-wait!!" He called out, the idea of Simmon dying was making him consider changing his mind. "Please, can you give me a day to think it over?"   
 "HMM... I SUPPOSE SO. VERY WELL. I WILL BE BACK IN TWENTY FOUR HOURS. HAHAHA, TIL NEXT TIME." In a flash the dream vanished and Will woke up with a yelp. He did not go back to sleep that night, but rather stayed up thinking it all over.   
  
~~~   
  
 That same night, Sim was sitting up on top of the roof of his house, looking out on the view of the city below them, Prospit seemed to be settled up on a large hill while Derse and the rest of the city of Skaia was down in the valley, to be honest, the view from the roof was breathtaking. But tonight he wasnt thinking about that. There had been a rumor, spread around that Karkat was planning on going monster hunting, now, as he had discovered a very convincing connection between Jayson's death and the legend of the Slenderman. Now of course the rumor was only spread to those directly connected to the case, or those helping with it. As it appeared, the rumor was spread by Vatria who wanted to get a team together to help Karkat, funny thing was, Karkat was the only one who didn't know that this was actually going on, he figured that Vatria would come, but not that she'd recruit help.   
 But tonight, Simmon had discovered that Brelyn was planning on going too and that got him thinking on whether he should go or not. Naturally he was scared, he wouldn't have been called a scaredy cat if he wasn't. But at the same time, he felt like he was being called. He always had, the woods always called to him. And what better way to get there than this. Maybe he would find his courage there. He always wondered if that was a possibility. The boy sighed softly and looked around, everything seemed to get a little darker around him all of a sudden, but it didn't scare him, instead it made him smile and he glanced over his shoulder. "Come on out, I know you're there."   
 There was a faint chuckle and Shadow came out of his hiding spot. "Sometimes I wonder just how many times you actually know I'm there."   
 "Most times. I'm sure there's a few that I don't notice you, but I usually do."   
 "Sorry to seem like I'm creeping around, stalking you or something...."   
 "It's okay, I kinda feel like you're more of a guardian angel, than a stalker."   
 "Hah! ..... I'm no angel."   
 Sim frowned a little. "Why is that? Because of your power? Oh don't look so surprised, everyone's noticed it. Every time you come around the enviorment around us gets darker, even now... It's like you can control shadows or something. Which I'm pretty sure I'm not that far off on it."   
 He smiled and hung his head in defeat. "You're way smarter than they give you credit for."   
 "Thanks?" He said with a small chucke. "But.... I'm not wrong, am I?"   
 He shook his head and pulled off his glasses then looked at Sim, his bright, glowing red eyes studying him for a minute before he replied. "Nope, you're absolutely correct." He felt that his eyes might be making Sim feel nervous so he looked straight ahead again. "I was born with this power... My family tried to keep me protected, tried to keep me as normal as possible... But that never worked."   
 "Wow, a real life superhero. Hehehe, you can use that to help people now."   
 "I can't really."   
 "Why not?"   
 "He won't let me."   
 "He? Who's he? Your father?"   
 "Oh hell no... My family is dead. He killed them." Shadow sighed and looked down sadly. "You already know who "he" is though... Your group has been battling him since Vishbe's death..." Sim gasped softly in response to that. Shadow went quiet for a while before looking at him. "...D-do you know why I've been watching you?" Sim shook his head slowly. "You remind me of my brother... He was younger than me, and small, like you. He had bright red wavy hair, wavy like yours..."   
 "You mean unruly." Sim commented, subconsiously running a hand through his hair to smooth it out a bit.   
 "If you want to call it that, I suppose so... But the night when "he" took me away, my brother got in there and tried to fight him off. Heh, I had never seen him so determined or brave before... Dorlan was..." He bowed his head and closed his eyes tightly. "...H-he literally gave his life for me."   
 "I'm sorry..." Sim said softly, not knowing what else to say really.   
 After a long moment of silence he spoke again. "I suppose that's why I'm always watching you, you remind me so much of him I feel like you are him in a way... I guess I am kind of stalking you, but I don't mean it like that. I just want-"   
 "You want to feel like you have your brother back." He looked at the boy a little surprised, but nodded slowly. "I guess I can understand that... And honestly, I've never felt like you were stalking me. Most people would be creeped out, but not me. I've kinda known that you were just watching over me... If you were a stalker, all the times that I've sat up here alone, you could've easily just grabbed me and ran. But you never did, you just sit there and watch... It's kinda nice to know that you're protected by an unseen force."   
 He chuckled softly. "I suppose so."   
 "Can I ask, why did he take you?"   
 "He took me because he knew of my power and wanted to use me for evil, but I refuse to let him do so... I just want to be normal... And I most certainly do not want to be evil."   
 "Wow... so you're like a... Slave to him?   
 "We're known as proxies... But yeah, a slave basically..."   
 "Damn..." Sim sighed, he began feeling uncomfortable with that conversation and decided to change it. "Hey ya know, if you want, you can come hang out with me up here at nights. I won't mind."   
 "Okay, I'll take you up on that, I'll come here whenever I can."   
 "Cool! Now I have another friend... That's new." He said, smiling a little.   
 "Indeed... But as your friend, can I offer you some advice?"   
 "Of course."   
 "Just be careful. I know the plans to go monster hunting, and believe me, that's dangerous... None of you really know who and what you're going up against."   
 "I think we'll be fine. It'll be a whole group of us, vs. him... Besides, I'm pretty sure you'd help us, wouldn't you?"   
 "Of course. But do you think I'm the only slave he has? Your sister knows all too well that there are more out there. She's met one already."   
 "Wait... you mean the guy who tried to break in and hurt her."   
 "Yeah. Honestly Jack ain't that bad... He's keeping my secret at least."   
 "What secret?"   
 "That I'm the one helping you guys. He knows and won't tell. I'm a little surprised but... I feel like there's more than myself in our group who hate "Him" and want to see it all go to hell... I just wonder, in the end, which side they'll all chose."   
 "Is there anyone in particular, who we should avoid at all costs?"   
 He nodded instantly. "Yes. One person. Jeff the Killer."   
  
~~~   
  
 Will had spent a whole day thinking everything over. As much as he hated to lose himself, and his soul. He couldn't just stand back and let Sim die. He wondered how it would work though. The Dealmaker said that he could make it so Will wouldn't actually die, but how could someone take a person's soul and the person still live? He really didn't know, but even if he did end up dying, it was worth it to save the boy. Will went into his room and closed the door and locked it so he wouldn't be disturbed then went over to his bed and laid down. He was about to fall asleep when he heard that soft, relaxing voice, but this time, it was coming from the dark side of his room.   
 "THERE'S NO NEED TO GO TO SLEEP. I AM HERE. I CAN TRAVEL INTO THE PHYSICAL REALM TOO YA KNOW." He chuckled softly. "I SUPPOSE YOU HAVE MADE YOUR DECISION."   
 He nodded slowly. "Yes... I.. I have." He stood up and looked toward him. "I want to make that deal."   
 "VERY WELL." He came out of the shadows and into view, Dealmaker was just as tall as Slenderman, but at least this guy had a face, and hair, short black hair with bang that hung over his eyes a little bit, though the rest was neatly combed back, he wore a black suit with a red tie and black shoes and shirt. His eyes were a pale gray and his skin was almost white, there was something menacing yet calming about him, as if one would feel conflicted when around him, which, Will did, even now. He looked down and smiled at Will before holding his hand out. "SHALL WE SHAKE ON IT?" Will nodded and as soon as their hands touched a blue flame appeared and flickered around each of their hands, sealing the deal. "NOW THEN, THERE IS JUST ONE MORE THING." He smirked and put a hand on Will's chest, burning a mark into his skin. "SORRY BUT I DO THAT TO EVERYONE I MAKE DEALS WITH."   
 Will bit back a sob as that had hurt badly, but as soon as that was complete the Dealmaker vanished leaving Will to deal with the pain alone. He went and put a cold compress on it then laid down. He felt as if he had just made the biggest mistake of his life, and though he didn't know it. He was not that far off from the truth at all.   
  
~~~   
  
 "So, Kk. I hear that you're planning on hunting down the Thlenderman." Sollux said as they were leaving the school for the last day before the week end. Karkat stopped and looked at Sol with a confused frown.    
 "Where the hell did you hear that?"   
 "VR told uth."   
 "Oh boy... Wait, us?"   
 "Yeah a lot of people know about it. Mysef, ED, GZ, WA, SM, BL... and a few more I imagine."   
 Karkat rolled his eyes and sighed. "Vatria why...?" He stopped when he remembered her saying that he would need help. "So.. what exactly did she say?"   
 "That you're going after him and that the'th going with you. I think the wantth people to agree to go ath well, but the'th thaying it without actually thaying it."   
 "Yeah, that sounds like her alright... I can't believe she would tell everyone though... I didn't want people to find out, I won't allow anyone to get hurt."   
 "Kk, if you're planning on thtopping uth from coming with you, then good luck, cauthe a lot of uth are already planning on joining you. You really can't thtop uth from doing tho."   
 Karkat sighed. "I just don't want any of you to get hurt..."   
 Sol sat next to him and looked at him sadly. "I know Kk, but... honethtly... We don't want you to get hurt either. Look we're meeting thith weekend to talk thingth over and make planth... you thould be there."   
 "I will." Karkat said with a nod. then looked around. "Well, I need to get home. I'll talk to you later."   
 "Okay, thee ya." Sol headed off toward his own home.   
 Karkat walked home in silence when suddenly he heard Sim's voice behind him. "Kar! Wait up!"   
 He frowned and stopped then glanced back at the running boy, he seemed to be in quite a hurry and had a paper in his hand. "What's up Markay?"   
 The boy stopped in front of him, panting from running so much. "I was... Asked to give this to you. The normal deliverer was unable to make it so he asked me to deliver it instead. The final note he called it."   
 Kk looked down at the paper and his face paled as he read the note Always watches, no eyes.... Good luck Vantas. You'll need it Karkate shuddered when he read that and sighed. "Another note... I received the final note." He frowned and looked at Simmon. "Why did the asshole give you the note to give to me?"   
 "Because he's not an asshole, he's a kid who's trapped, who's a slave to the Slenderman, he doesn't want to be there and he's trying to protect as many as he can... He's scared and can be killed for what he's doing but he's still trying...He's been hanging out with me at night for the past couple days... Shadow's quite lonely."   
 "So wait, you've seen him?" Kk asked and Sim nodded in reply. "Well now, this has proven quite interesting, quite interesting indeed."


End file.
